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SOX11 expression in chronic lymphocytic leukemia correlates with adverse prognostic markers

  • Research Article
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Tumor Biology

Abstract

The transcription factor SOX11 plays an important role in embryonic neurogenesis and tissue remodeling. Recent studies have shown aberrant expression of SOX11 in various types of aggressive B cell neoplasms. In this study, we have analyzed SOX11 transcription levels in 86 patients with diagnosis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Results were correlated with well-known prognostic factors such as immunoglobulin heavy chain variable (IGHV) gene mutational status, cytogenetics risk groups and clinicopathological characteristics of the disease. Overall, 35 % of cases showed SOX11 expression; meanwhile, the remaining 65 % lacked gene expression. The analysis taking into account the IGHV mutational status showed significant differences in SOX11 transcripts levels between mutated (0.004 ± 0.0001) and unmutated CLL patients (0.405 ± 0.011) (p < 0.0001), as well as a positive correlation between SOX11 mRNA expression and the percentage of IGHV homology (p = 0.0001). Furthermore, significantly lower SOX11 mRNA expression was detected in patients with deletion 13q14 as a single alteration (0.016 ± 0.008) than those observed in cases with deletions 11q/17p (0.35 ± 0.017) (p = 0.02). The correlation of gene expression with clinical evolution showed shorter treatment free survival (p = 0.043) and overall survival (p = 0.047) in SOX11 positive patients compared to SOX11 negative cases. Our findings show for the first time an association between SOX11 expression and some CLL poor prognostic factors. These results suggest SOX11 as a possible biomarker that adds new biological information that could contribute to a better understanding of this pathology.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National Research Council (CONICET), the National Agency of Scientific and Technical Promotion (ANPCyT), and the ¨Alberto J. Roemmers¨ Foundation.

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None

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Genética de Neoplasias Linfoides, Instituto de Medicina Experimental, CONICET-Academia Nacional de Medicina, J.A. Pacheco de Melo 3081, C1425AUM, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Alejandro Roisman, Virginia Palau Nagore & Irma Slavutsky

  2. División Patología Molecular, Instituto de Investigaciones Hematológicas “Mariano R. Castex”, Academia Nacional de Medicina, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Carmen Stanganelli

  3. Laboratorio de Investigación Aplicada a Neurociencias-(LIAN), Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia-FLENI, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Guillermo Videla Richardson & María Elida Scassa

  4. Servicio de Hematología, Hospital General de Agudos “Dr Teodoro Álvarez”, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Raimundo Fernando Bezares

  5. Servicio de Hematología, Sanatorio Municipal “Dr. Julio Méndez”, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    María Cabrejo

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  1. Alejandro Roisman
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  2. Carmen Stanganelli
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  8. Irma Slavutsky
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Correspondence to Irma Slavutsky.

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Roisman, A., Stanganelli, C., Nagore, V.P. et al. SOX11 expression in chronic lymphocytic leukemia correlates with adverse prognostic markers. Tumor Biol. 36, 4433–4440 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-015-3083-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-015-3083-1

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