Analysis of the Bach2 and HDAC3 Expression in Iranian Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a hematopoietic malignancy result from abnormal proliferation and accumulation of myeloid progenitors. It is considered as the most common form of acute leukemia in adults. Previous reports have demonstrated the increased levels of some immune system checkpoints, such as PD-1, TIM-3, and TIGIT on T cells of AML patients. AML can be associated with the elevated expression of Blimp-1 transcription factor in patients. It has shown that B lymphocyte-induced maturation protein 1 (Blimp-1) encoded by Prdm1 is negatively regulated by both Bach2 and BCL6 transcription factors with some epigenetic factors, including HDAC3 and NCoR1.

The present study aimed to investigate the expression level of two important genes, Bach2 and HDAC3, in peripheral blood samples of Iranian patients with AML compared to the healthy control group.

A total of 24 patients with de novo AML and 15 healthy individuals were studied. Total RNA was extracted from peripheral blood samples and relative expressions of Bach2 and HDAC3 genes were determined by quantitative real-time PCR. Data were analyzed using Graphpad Prism 7 software.

Comparison of the relative gene expression in the patients and control groups revealed that Bach2 and HDAC3 were down-regulated in AML patients by 4.97 and 6.14-fold, respectively (P = 0.0017 and P = 0.0026).

The reduction in the expression levels of Bach2 and HDAC3 genes in AML patients might be regarded as one of the clues that could explain the increased levels of the Blimp-1 and also some immune checkpoints in these patients.