The clinical characteristics and prognostic significance of AID, miR-181b, and miR-155 expression in adult patients with de novo B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

This study aimed to investigate clinical characteristics and prognostic significance of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) gene, miR-181b and miR-155 expression in de novo adult B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) patients. Results showed that AID and miR-155 expression were higher in B-ALL patients than healthy controls, while miR-181b expression was lower in B-ALL patients. In addition, Ph+ B-ALLs had higher AID expression than Ph- B-ALLs, and its high expression was associated with BCR-ABL. Moreover, B-ALL patients with AIDhigh or miR-181blow expression had a shorter overall survival (OS). AIDhigh with miR-181blow, AIDhigh with miR-155low, miR-181blow, miR-155low, AIDhigh with miR-181blow and miR-155low expression were associated with shorter OS. Combination of the three molecules are more accurate predictors for unfavorable OS compared with univariate group. Therefore, AID, miR-181b and miR-155 provide clinical prognosis of adult de novo B-ALL patients and may refine their molecular risk classification.