A three-gene signature and clinical outcome in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia.

BACKGROUND

Although the 5-year survival rates in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have improved over the last decades, there is a high relapse rate for Pediatric AML patients.

METHODS

In the present study, we mainly combine PCA with the LASSO technique to identify prognostic markers for Pediatric AML patients coming from the NCI TARGET database.

RESULTS

Three key genes (EEF1A1, RPLP2, RPL19) associated with poor prognosis of pediatric AML has been screened by both PCA and LASSO Cox regression analysis. Simultaneously, we developed a risk score model to predict the prognosis of pediatric AML, according to risk scores, the patients were divided into high- and low-risk groups based on the median risk score. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis indicated that Pediatric AML patients with the high-risk group have a poorer survival rate than those with a low-risk group (p < 0.000). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that the risk model has a good performance (AUC:0.669). Moreover, the clinicopathologic correlation showed that the expression levels of three genes were related to the central nervous system (CNS) disease and chloroma. GSEA identified that those pathways including oxidative phosphorylation, apoptosis and TGFB signaling pathway were differentially enriched.

CONCLUSION

Taken together, those studies suggested that a gene panel that consists of three genes (EEF1A1, RPLP2, RPL19) may act as a potential prognostic marker.