Methylation status of galectin-12 gene promoter in acute myeloid leukemia

Intro duction Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a hematopoietic stem cell disorder, characterized by a block in differentiation of hematopoiesis, which results in the growth of a clonal population of neoplastic cells or blasts. In a previous study, the expression profiling of cancer-related galectins in AML showed upregulated expression of galectin-12 leading to cell cycle arrest. This observation pointed to the possibility that galectin-12 in AML could be a tumor-suppressor gene and a potential prognostic marker.Objective The aim was to study the methylation status of galectin-12 gene promoter in AML and its correlation with the expression of the gene and its potential effect on overall survival of patients.Patients and methods This study was carried out on 28 newly diagnosed AML cases. Expression of gal-12 gene was detected by reverse transcriptase-PCR, and the methylation status was examined by bisulfite genomic sequencing.Results Our results showed that 23/28 (82.1%) cases were negative for mRNA expression. The same group (82.1%) showed hypermethylated CpG island in the promoter region of LGALS12.Conclusion There is an association between LGALS12 expression and promoter hypermethylation [refers to the addition of a methyl group (CH3) covalently to the base cytosine (C) in the dinucleotide 5́-CpG-3́]. The mean survival of patients with unmethylated LGALS12 gene is significantly higher than methylated gene.