The clinical application value of METTL16 in patients with multiple myeloma / 安徽医科大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective @#To investigate the value of methyltransferase-like protein 16 (METTL16) in the clinical di- agnosis and prognostic prediction of multiple myeloma (MM) patients . @*Methods @#The expression level and prog- nostic potential of each gene involved in N6 -methyladenosine ( m6A) modification in MM were respectively ana- lyzed in the databases of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) and the Genotype-Tissue Expression Proj ect (GTEx ) . Bone marrow specimens from 26 patients with initial diagnosis of MM and 19 patients with MM af- ter treatment with standard regimens and peripheral blood specimens from 24 normal subjects were collected respec- tively , and the expression levels of m6A genes were determined by qRT-PCR. The correlation between METTL16 expression and various laboratory and clinical indexes was analyzed hemoglobin ( Hb) , white blood cell count ( WBC) , platelet count (PLT) , blood creatinine (Scr ) , serum calcium (Ca2 + ) , β-microglobulin ( β-MG) , bone destruction , ISS stage , type , and overall survival (OS) in the patients with primary diagnosis . The expression lev- els of interleukin (IL) -4 , IL-6 , IL-10 , IL-18 and chemokine ligand 2 ( CCL2) , CCL3 , CCL4 in the specimens were further examined and their correlation with the expression of METTL16 was investigated . @*Results @#Database analysis suggested that METTL16 expression was significantly higher in MM patient samples compared with normal controls , which was associated with poor prognosis and had certain diagnostic value . qRT-PCR results showed that the expression level of METTL16 in the bone marrow of patients with initial diagnosis of MM was significantly higher than that of treated patients and normal controls . Its expression was positively correlated with hemoglobin , leuko- cytes and stage , and its expression was positively correlated with CCL4 expression .@*Conclusion @#METTL16 expres- sion was significantly elevated in patients with MM , and its expression level was correlated with anemia , more bone destruction and worse stage , which might indicate a poor prognosis . The significant correlation between the expres- sion of METTL16 and CCL4 suggests that METTL16 may play a corresponding pathogenic role through the relevant pathway. METTL16 will have significant clinical value in the management of MM .