Prognostic significance of 2-hydroxyglutarate levels in acute myeloid leukemia in China

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) consists of a group of hematopoietic malignancies with considerable diversities in clinical and biological features. Recently, not only genetic abnormalities but also “oncometabolites,” such as 2-hydroxyglutarate (2-HG), have been found to play a role in driving AML pathogenesis and serve as potential disease markers. In this study on a large cohort of AML, we found that the serum 2-HG level was increased in 62 of 367 (17%) cases with distinct hematologic and biological features. Survival analysis performed in 234 patients without prognostic cytogenetic markers showed that increased 2-HG level was a poor predictor, demonstrating the potential of serum 2-HG as an independent marker for outcome evaluation of AML.