Zahra Barati Shourijeh - Department of Biochemistry, Shiraz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran
Zahra Faghih - Shiraz Institute for Cancer Research, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Mahmoud Vesal - Department of Biochemistry, Shiraz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran
Amin Ramezani - Shiraz Institute for Cancer Research, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), as the post-transcriptional regulators, plays a critical role in many cancers’ development and progression. Long non-coding RNAs (lnc-RNAs) are a heterogeneous class of ncRNAs with longer than 200 nucleotides which has been introduced to have an effective role through the complicated processes including transcription modulation. MALAT1 and KCNQ1OT1 are two well-known lncRNAs which have been reported to have a higher expression level in many types of cancer. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the expression level of these two lnc-RNAs in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) patients in comparison to healthy individuals. Thirty-two AML patients, as well as 30 sex and age, matched healthy individuals voluntarily enrolled in the study. RNA was extracted from whole blood samples using TRIZOL reagents. Following treating RNA samples with DNase enzyme, complementary DNA (cDNA) synthesis was performed using TAKARA reverse transcriptase kit. The expression level of MALAT1, KCNQ1OT1, and ACTB (as reference gene) was measured by SYBR green real-time PCR. Relative expression was calculated by REST 2009 software. Our results showed a slight increase in the expression of KCNQ1OT1 (1.75 fold) in one hand and a minor decrease in the expression levels of MALAT1 (0.87 fold) on the other in the AML patients compared to the healthy individuals, however, the differences were not statistically significant (p≥0.05). In conclusion, although we could not find any differences in the expression of KCNQ1OT1 and MALAT1 between patients and controls, more researches with larger sample size requirements to reveal the exact role of this lncRNAs in AML.

Long non-coding RNA, Acute myeloid leukemia, MALAT1, KCNQ1OT1