Abstract: OBJECTIVE:To investigate expression and diagnostic values of LncRNA CUST_49525 and CUST_47163 in peripheral blood lymphocytes in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). METHODS: Real time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qPCR) was used to detect expression levels of LncRNA CUST_49525 and CUST_47163 in peripheral blood lymphocytes of patients and healthy controls. The cytokinesis-arrest micronucleus test was used to detect micronuclei levels in lymphocytes. The collected data were evaluated using the non-parametric Mann Whitney U test to determine significant differences and ROC curves were drawn to determine diagnostic significance. RESULTS: Compared with the control group,the expression levels of both LncRNA CUST_49525 and CUST_47163 from the patients were significantly down-regulated (P<0.01), while the micronucleus rates were significantly increased (P<0.01). The ROC curve analyses show that the area under the ROC curve of LncRNA CUST_49525 in the patients was 0.742,with a 95%CI of 0.627-0.858;and that for LncRNA CUST_47163 was 0.859,with a 95%CI of 0.769-0.949. The area under the ROC curve for the micronucleus rates was 0.948,with a 95%CI of 0.899-0.997 (P<0.01). The area under the ROC curve for the combined diagnosis of the three was 0.970,with a 95%CI of 0.931-1.000 (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: The expression levels of LncRNA CUST_49525 and CUST_47163 in peripheral blood lymphocytes of AML patients were abnormally down-regulated. The combined diagnostic effect of the two together with the micronucleus rate was superior to a single indicator,and can be a potential reference indicator for AML diagnosis.

Key words: acute myeloid leukemia, LncRNA, micronucleus, diagnosis