Down-regulation of pseudogene Vimentin 2p is associated with poor outcome in de novo acute myeloid leukemia.

Objectives: This study was intended to investigate the expression status of Vimentin 2p (VIM 2p), a pseudogene of Vimentin, and further analyze its clinical significance in AML patients.

Methods: Real-time quantitative PCR (RQ-PCR) was employed to explore the expression status of VIM 2p in 128 patients with de novo AML and 36 healthy controls.

Results: The expression level of VIM 2p was significantly decreased compared with healthy controls (P< 0.001). The patients with low VIM 2p expression were identified in 93 of 128 (73%) of AML patients. No significant differences could be observed in sex, age, blood parameters, FAB/WHO subtypes, karyotype risks and ten gene mutations (FLT3-ITD, NPM1, C-KIT, IDH1/IDH2, DNMT3 A, C/EBPA, N/K-RAS and U2AF1) between VIM 2p low-expressed and high-expressed patients (P> 0.05). Patients with low VIM 2p expression had significantly shorter overall survival (OS) than those with high VIM 2p expression in whole AML cases (median 7 vs. 13 months, respectively, P= 0.032), besides cytogenetically normal AML (CN-AML) and non-M3 AML cohort (P= 0.042 and 0.045, respectively).

Conclusions: These findings indicate that VIM 2p down-regulation is a common event in AML and may be associated with poor clinical outcome.