Inflammation-related genes S100s, RNASE3, and CYBB and risk of leukemic transformation in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome with myelofibrosis

Minghua Hong; Junqing Wu; Lifeng Ma; Xiaoping Han; Ting Lu; Zhaoming Wang; Jing Zhao; Lizhen Liu; Huarui Fu; Weijia Huang; Weiyan Zheng; Jingsong He; Guoqing Wei; Huanping Wang; Zhimei Chen; He Huang; Zhen Cai; Guoji Guo; Jie Sun

doi:10.1186/s40364-021-00304-w

Inflammation-related genes S100s, RNASE3, and CYBB and risk of leukemic transformation in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome with myelofibrosis

Biomark Res. 2021 Jul 2;9(1):53. doi: 10.1186/s40364-021-00304-w.

Authors

Minghua Hong^#¹, Junqing Wu^#¹, Lifeng Ma², Xiaoping Han², Ting Lu¹, Zhaoming Wang³, Jing Zhao³, Lizhen Liu¹, Huarui Fu¹, Weijia Huang¹, Weiyan Zheng¹, Jingsong He¹, Guoqing Wei¹, Huanping Wang¹, Zhimei Chen¹, He Huang¹, Zhen Cai¹, Guoji Guo^#², Jie Sun^#⁴

Affiliations

¹ Bone Marrow Transplantation Center, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine; Institute of Hematology, Zhejiang University; Zhejiang Province Engineering Laboratory for Stem Cell and Immunity Therapy; Liangzhu Laboratory, Zhejiang University Medical Center, 1369 West Wenyi Road, 310003, Hangzhou, China.
² Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Stem Cell Institute, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, 310058, Hangzhou, China.
³ Pathology Department, the First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, 310003, Hangzhou, China.
⁴ Bone Marrow Transplantation Center, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine; Institute of Hematology, Zhejiang University; Zhejiang Province Engineering Laboratory for Stem Cell and Immunity Therapy; Liangzhu Laboratory, Zhejiang University Medical Center, 1369 West Wenyi Road, 310003, Hangzhou, China. jsun1492@zju.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Myelodysplastic syndrome with myelofibrosis (MDS-MF) has been associated with an inferior prognosis compared with MDS without MF. However, MDS-MF is not listed independently as a subtype of MDS, and its clinical and genetic characteristics remain poorly understood. We retrospectively compared 53 patients with MDS-MF (44 MF grade 1/MF₁; 9 MF grade 2-3/MF_{2 - 3}) and 31 with de novo MDS without MF (MDS). The leukemic transformation risks of both MDS-MF_{2 - 3} and MDS-MF₁ were increased compared with the MDS group. To identify the potential mechanisms responsible for the leukemic transformation of MDS-MF, we performed single-cell sequencing for one MDS-MF_{2 - 3} patient before and after leukemic transformation to explore the variations in gene expression levels. In addition to upgraded expression levels of acute myeloid leukemia-related genes during leukemic transformation, expression levels of some inflammation-related genes (such as S100s, RNASE3, and CYBB) were also increased, and inflammation-related pathways were up-regulated. These results suggest that inflammation-related genes and pathways may play an important role in the leukemic transformation of MDS-MF.

Keywords: Inflammation; Leukemic transformation; Myelodysplastic syndrome; Myelofibrosis; Single-cell sequence.

Publication types

Letter

Abstract

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