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The presence of elevated numbers of circulating microparticles (MPs) has been hypothesized to be responsible for the occurrence of thromboembolic events (TEEs) in thalassemic patients. Our aim is to evaluate the presence and the thrombotic risk of circulating MPs in thalassemia patients and to determine the difference in MPs between β-thalassemia major (β-TM) and thalassemia intermedia (TI). The percentage of the annexin-labeled MPs, platelet-derived MPs (PMPs), erythrocyte-derived MPs (RMPs), and endothelial-derived MPs (EMPs) was measured by flow cytometry, in 87 thalassemia patients (39 β-TM and 48 TI). By multiple regression analysis, we then assessed the various independent risk factors for the occurrence of TEE. The thalassemic patients who experienced TEE had a significantly higher platelet count, higher percentage of annexin-labeled MPs, and higher percentage of PMPs (p value = 0.014, 0.003, and 0.014, respectively). There was no significant difference between β-TM and TI patients at the level of any of the studied MPs. The predictive risk factors for TEE in thalassemic patients were splenectomy, total and direct bilirubin, the RMPs, and the EMPs (OR = 10.07 (CI = 3.7-27.1), 4.3 (CI = 2.1-8.7), 1.4 (CI = 1.5-6.2), 1.6 (CI = 1.1-2.2), 3.0 (CI = 1.9-4.9), respectively). In conclusion, the elevated numbers of circulating MPs is a risk factor for the TEE in thalassemia patients.

Background Long non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) have recently been considered promising biomarkers for oncogenesis due to their epigenetic regulatory effects. HOTAIR is one of the oncogenic LncRNAs that was previously studied in different non-hematological malignancies. The current study set out to detect the expression level of HOTAIR LncRNA in AML patients concerning their clinical characteristics, laboratory data, FLT3-ITD, and NPM1 mutations, as well as treatment outcome. This study included quantitative detection of HOTAIR gene expression in 47 cases of AML using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, as well as NPM1 and FLT3-ITD genotyping. Results The HOTAIR expression was significantly higher in AML patients 6.87 (0.001) than in normal controls 1.66 (0.004–6.82) (p 0.007). The HOTAIR expression level was affected by chemotherapy, and it was correlated to hemoglobin level (p 0.001), age, total leukocytic count (p 0.022), and NPM1 mutation (p 0.017). HOTAIR gene expression level showed a correlation to relapse-free survival in the study group (p 0.04). Conclusion HOTAIR is overexpressed in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). HOTAIR pre-treatment and post-chemotherapy gene expression levels can predict chemosensitivity and relapse.

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