Genome-wide mi RNA profiling in myelodysplastic syndrome with del(5q) treated with lenalidomide.

Objectives Lenalidomide is a potent drug with pleiotropic effects in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome ( MDS) with deletion of the long arm of chromosome 5 [del(5q)]. We investigated its effect on regulation of micro RNA (mi RNA) expression profiles in del(5q) patients with MDS in vivo. Methods We used mi RNA expression microarrays to study changes in mi RNA levels in peripheral blood CD14+ monocytes collected from patients before and during lenalidomide treatment and compared them with those from healthy donors. Results Before treatment, we observed strong upregulation of pro-apoptotic miR-34a and miR-34a* that diminished during lenalidomide exposure. Upregulation of HOX-related miR-196b and erythroid-specific miR-451 seen in untreated patients remained unchanged after the treatment. At the time of hematologic response, expression of several mi RNAs clustering to the 14q32 locus was reduced. Additionally, we focused more deeply on mi RNAs from the 5q commonly deleted region and found that levels of miR-378 and miR-378* followed haploinsufficiency trend. Conclusions This report describes changes in mi RNA expression in del(5q) patients with MDS treated with lenalidomide, likely arising from deregulation of pathways implicated in lenalidomide action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]