Metastasis-Associated Lung Adenocarcinoma Transcript 1 Expression Levels in Egyptian Patients with Multiple Myeloma: Relation to Disease Characteristics and Possible Prognostic Implication

Abstract

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a malignancy of antibody-secreting plasma cells which remains incurable, despite significant improvements in treatment and patient care. There is an urgent need to identify novel markers with prognostic and therapeutic value for MM. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as key regulators in cancers including MM. Metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) is a lncRNA known to be over expressed in solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. However, the pathological mechanisms of MALAT1 in MM are not completely understood. Objective: To investigate the MALAT1 expression levels in MM patients and to evaluate their relations to disease characteristics and possible prognostic implication. Patients and methods: The study was performed on 50 MM patients and 50 patients doing bone marrow aspiration for other conditions with normal plasma cell percentage as controls. Total RNA, including LncRNA isolation from bone marrow samples was carried out with the miRN easy Mini Kit according to the manufacturer’s instructions. MALAT1 gene expression was performed by RNA extraction, reverse transcription, and real-time qPCR. Results: We demonstrated that MALAT1 was over expressed in newly diagnosed MM patients compared with post-treatment patients and control subjects. Additionally, there were statistically significant relations between high MALAT1 expression levels and ESR, plasma cell percentages in bone marrow, M-protein concentrations in serum protein electrophoresis (SPEP), hemoglobin levels and serum levels of β2-microglobulin and IL-6. Conclusion: The current data suggested that MALAT1 may be useful as a novel prognostic biomarker for MM.