This analysis showed that (a) among the various AMLs, M3 (APLs), M4, and M5 are those expressing the lowest HHEX levels, compared to M0, M1, and M2 AMLs; (b) the levels of VEGF-A expression were much higher in M3 than in all the other FAB AML subtypes; (c) the HHEX/VEGF-A ratio was much lower in M3 than in the other FAB AML subtypes; (d) the plotting of the individual HHEX and VEGF-A levels in M3 AML patients showed the existence of a significant negative correlation between these two parameters (p < 0.028) (Additional file 1: Figure S1B). This evidence concerns the gene VEGFA and acute myeloid leukemia.