Frequency of BCR-ABL fusion transcripts in Sudanese patients with chronic myeloid leukemia using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction

OBJECTIVE: To report the frequencies of BCR-ABL transcript variants studied in Sudanese patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).

METHODS: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out in 112 CML patients who attended at different clinics of Khartoum state, Sudan from February 2007 to December 2010. Transcript analysis was successful in 109 venous blood and bone marrow samples using quantitative real-time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

RESULTS: The transcripts analysis of 109 patients showed that 32.1% (35/109) expressed one or both of the P210 BCR/ABL rearrangements (b2a2 and b3a2). Of those 35 (32.1%), 21 patients expressed b2a2, 6 expressed b3a2, and 8 expressed both transcripts b2a2/b3a2. The remaining 74 patients revealed transcripts combination of P190 BCR/ABL and P210 BCR/ABL (e1a2/b2a2/b3a2), of which 19 patients had all the transcripts (e1a2/b2a2/b3a2), 33 revealed 2 transcripts (e1a2/b2a2), and the remaining 22 patients had (e1a2/b3a2).

CONCLUSION: The frequencies of BCR-ABL rearrangements in the Sudanese population demonstrated distinct profiles in contrast with the frequencies reported in similar studies conducted in other geographical regions.This might be due to the distinct ethnic group involved in this study which has been supported further by reported distinct genetic profiles in Sudanese patients with bladder and breast cancer.