Prevalence of JAK2V617F Mutation and Serum Levels of Alkaline Phosphatase and Lactate Dehydrogenase in Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

Abstract

Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative neoplasm arises from Bcr-Abl gene translocation (called Ph chromosome) in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). JAK2^V617F mutation is an acquired single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) occurs in JAK2 gene and is associated with many hematological malignancy other than CML. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of JAK2V617F mutation and serum levels of alkaline phophatase (ALP) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in Ph+ CML Iraqi patients treated with imatinib. Blood samples were collected from 42 Ph+ CML patients who have been received at least six month therapy with imatinib.  DNA was extracted, and real time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was used for JAK2^V617F detection. Serum levels of ALP and LDH were measured using ready kits. Five of 43 CML patients (11.62%) had heterozygous mutant allele of JAK2^V617F mutation, with a concentration ranged from 0.01% to 0.12%. The prevalence of this mutation is more associated with male than female (OR=0.5, 95%CI=0.364-0.687). JAK2^V617F-positive patients had higher average serum levels of ALP and LDH (146.05±8.028 IU/L and 204± 10.85 IU/L respectively) than that of JAK2^V617F-negative patients (64.45±40.15 IU/L and 178.33±13.693 IU/L respectively with significant differences. JAK2^V617F mutationcould occur in coexistence with Bcr-Abl transcript in CML patients, and serum levels of ALP and LDH can be used as indicators for this coexistence.