The Meningioma 1 (MN1) Gene is an Independent Poor Prognostic Factor in Adult Egyptian Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients

AIM: To determine the prognostic importance of meningioma 1 (MN1) gene expression levels in the context of other predictive markers for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cases. METHODS: MN1 expression was measured in 85 newly diagnosed adults younger than 60 years by real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: At diagnosis 67.4% of cases had elevated MN1 expression, this being associated with a worse prognosis, higher incidence of lymphadenopathy and CD34 transcript expression (p=0.02 and <0.001, respectively). No other molecular or clinical characteristics were significantly associated with MN1expression. Patients with high MN1 expression had lower complete response rate at day 15 compared to patients with low MN1 expression (p=0.09) and a significantly higher relapse rate (21.1% versus 7.7%, respectively, p=0.04). Patients with high MN1 expression had shorter TTP compared to those with low expression, p= 0.07. CONCLUSION: MN1 expression may predict outcome in AML patients. The MN1 gene and micro RNA expression suggest a biological feature that could be used as therapeutic targets.