Whole Exome Sequencing of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Patients

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that leukemogenic chromosomal translocations, including fusions between Break point Cluster Region (BCR) and Abelson (ABL) are present in the peripheral blood of healthy individuals. The aim of this study was to gain insights into the genetic alterations other than BCR-Abl translocation in molecular level, which cause chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). METHODS: We performed whole-exome sequencing on four cases representative of BCR-ABL positive CML in chronic phase of the disease. RESULTS: We did not identify any pathogenic mutation in all known genes involved in CML or other cancers in our subjects. Nevertheless, we identified polymorphisms in related genes. CONCLUSION: It is the first report of exome sequencing in Philadelphia chromosome positive CML patients. We did not identify any pathogenic mutation in known cancer genes in our patients who can be due to CML pathogenesis or technical limitations.