Huang Y, Chen L, Xie J, et al. - Since findings revealed a negative correlation of higher levels of pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) with the prognosis of acute leukemia, PKM2 can serve as a potential tool to evaluate the incidence as well as prognosis of acute leukemia.

• This study involved 56 acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients, 40 acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients, and healthy individuals.

• Significantly higher plasma levels of PKM2 were detected in AML or ALL patients vs those in healthy individuals.

• PKM2 yielded an AUC of 0.827 for AML and 0.837 for ALL.

• In ALL patients with a BCR/ABL-positive genotype, significantly higher levels of plasma PKM2 was identified vs that in patients with a BCR/ABL-negative genotype.

• In acute leukemia, higher PKM2 expression was associated with worse event-free survival and overall survival vs lower PKM2 expression.