Decreased SCIN expression, associated with promoter methylation, is a valuable predictor for prognosis in acute myeloid leukemia.

The present study was aimed to investigate SCIN expression as well as promoter methylation and further explore their clinical relevance in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. Real-time quantitative PCR was carried out to detect the expression level of SCIN in 119 AML patients and 37 healthy controls. Real-time quantitative methylation-specific PCR and bisulfite sequencing PCR were carried out to detect SCIN promoter methylation levels in 103 AML patients and 29 controls. As compared with controls, the level of SCIN transcript was significantly down-regulated in AML patients (P = 0.001), and the level of methylated SCIN promoter was significantly higher in AML patients (P = 0.001). Moreover, the level of promoter methylation was weakly negatively correlated with SCIN expression in AML patients (R = -0.265, P = 0.027). Demethylation of SCIN promoter by 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine could restore its expression in leukemic cell line THP1. The age of SCINlow patients was significantly higher and C/EBPA mutation was significantly less than SCINhigh patients (P = 0.039 and 0.038, respectively). Moreover, the rate of complete remission (CR) of SCINlow patients was significantly lower than SCINhigh patients (P = 0.009). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that low SCIN expression was associated with shorter overall survival (P = 0.036). Cox regression analysis demonstrated low SCIN expression was an independent poor prognostic factor (P = 0.047). Furthermore, SCIN expression was restored in those patients who achieved CR after induction therapy (P = 0.003). These findings indicate that decreased SCIN expression associated with its promoter methylation is a valuable biomarker for predicting adverse prognosis in AML patients.