Background Lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase 1 (LPCAT1) overexpression has been found in various solid cancers and promoted the progression, metastasis, and recurrence of these diseases. However, the expression pattern of LPCAT1 in acute myeloid leukemia was unclear. This study aimed to assess expression status of LPCAT1 and its clinical relevance in acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
Methods and Results LPCAT1 expression was significant lower in AML than controls predicted by public databases. Also, a significantly down-regulated of LPCAT1 of bone marrow in AML compared with controls was validated by real-time quantitative PCR (RQ-PCR) [0.056 (0.000-0.846) vs 0.253 (0.031-1.000)]. The DiseaseMeth version 2.0 and The Cancer Genome Atlas analysis showed LPCAT1 promoter was hypermethylated in AML and a strongly negative correlation was found between LPCAT1 expression and methylation (R=-0.610, P<0.001). RQ-PCR revealed the frequency of LPCAT1 low-expression in FAB-M4/M5 subtype was lower than other subtypes (P=0.018). The ROC curve revealed LPCAT1 expression might serve as a potential diagnostic marker for differentiating AML from normal with an area under the ROC curve of 0.819 (95% CI 0.743-0.894, P<0.001). In cytogenetically normal AML, the overall survival in patients with LPCAT1 low-expression was significantly longer than that in those without LPCAT1 low-expressed group (median 19 versus 5.5 months, P=0.036).
Conclusion LPCAT1 is downregulated in bone marrow and LPCAT1 expression can be as a potential biomarker for diagnosis and evaluating prognosis in AML.