S9031-S9126-S9333-S9500-A, Examination of the Prognostic Significance of AML-Specific and Age-Associated Genes in AML Patients

OBJECTIVES:

• To determine whether the expression of previously identified acute myeloid leukemia (AML)-specific and age-associated genes have prognostic significance in adult patients with AML.
• To examine, preliminarily, if AML-specific and age-associated expression changes occur in the most primitive hematopoietic leukemia blasts (i.e., CD34+/38-).
• To examine, preliminarily, whether methylation or histone modification of the IRF8 CPG island/promoter region is correlated with IRF8 gene expression in AML.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.

Previously collected specimens of RNA from pre-treatment marrow or peripheral blood are obtained from a repository of SWOG clinical trials (SWOG-S9031, SWOG-9126, SWOG-9333, and SWOG-9500). Samples are analyzed for absolute expression levels of 23 selected genes and relative expression levels of splice variants via quantitative RT/PCR and GeneScan assays and linked to clinical and outcome data from the main SWOG database. Samples from a subset of patients are analyzed to confirm aberrant expression of acute myeloid leukemia-specific and age-associated genes in highly enriched population of leukemic blasts (CD34+/CD38- and CD34+/CD38+). DNA samples are also analyzed for correlation of IRF8 gene expression with methylation or histone modification of the IRF8 CPG island/promoter region.