Does BCR-ABL transcript type influence the prognosis of patients in chronic myelogenous leukemia chronic phase?

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: In this study, we evaluated the influence of the transcript type on hematological and clinical parameters, as well as the event-free survival of 50 patients in the Chronic myeloid leukemia chronic phase. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of 55 patients with Chronic myeloid leukemia. The eligibility criteria were based on the availability of hematological and clinical baseline data in the medical records. Data on BCR-ABL transcripts were obtained from medical records. RESULTS: Eighteen patients (36%) had the b2a2 transcript, 24 (48%) had b3a2 and 8 (16%) had b2a2/b3a2. The median platelet count for transcripts b2a2, b3a2 and b2a2/b3a2 was 320.65 × 10(3)/L, 396 × 10(3)/L, and 327.05 × 10(3)/L, respectively (p = 0.896). We could not find any differences in relation to the other hematological parameters, when compared to the transcript type. Comparison between spleen and liver size and type of transcript did not differ inside the groups (p = 0.395 and p = 0.647, respectively) and the association between risk scores and transcript type did not show statistical significance (p > 0.05). The 21-month probability for event-free survival was 21%, 48% and 66% for the transcripts b2a2, b3a2 and b2a2/b3a2 respectively (p = 0.226) CONCLUSION: We conclude that the expression BCR-ABL transcripts have no influence on hematological, clinical and event-free survival parameters of patients in the Chronic myeloid leukemia chronic phase.