JAK2V617F mutation and endogenous erythroid colony formation in patients with polycythaemia vera.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency of JAK2V617F gene mutation in patients with polycythemia vera (PV) and to compare the results with the presence of endogenous erythroid colony (EEC) formation.

Methods: Peripheral blood and bone marrow samples of 28 patients with PV were analyzed. The diagnosis of PV was established according to the bone marrow criteria of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Allogeneic stem cell transplant for chronic myeloid leukemia as a still promising option in the era of the new target therapy.

Background/aim: Introducing tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) has essentially changed curative approach, to be precise, clearly improved treatment efficacy for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Thus, the place and usage of allogeneic stem cell transplant (SCT) in CML treatment--as a former "nearly monopolistic" therapeutic manner--is nowadays controversial. The objective of this retrospective study was to evaluate the results obtained in the treatment of CML patients, with a particular attempt to define parameters critical for clinical benefit and superior overall outcome following allogeneic SCT.

Frequency of BCR-ABL fusion transcripts in Serbian patients with chronic myeloid leukemia.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze the occurrence of the most frequent BCR-ABL transcript variants (b3a2, b2a2 and e1a2) in Serbian patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and compare it with the occurrence reported in other populations.

Methods: We analyzed peripheral blood and bone marrow samples of 136 Serbian patients with CML by RT-PCR and cytogenetic methods.

Results: In 100 patients (73.

t(5;6;12) associated with resistance to imatinib mesylate in chronic myeloid leukemia.

A patient with t(9;22)-positive chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) developed a resistance to therapy with imatinib mesylate (Glivec) which coincided with the appearance of t(5;6;12) in the same cells with t(9;22) [46,XX,t(5;6;12)(q14?;q21?;q23?),t(9;22)(q34;q11)]. She remains in a continuous chronic phase of CML. This is the first reported instance of karyotype evolution temporally associated, and possibly involved, with the induction of resistance to imatinib mesylate but without any signs of evolution of leukemia toward a more anaplastic and aggressive form.

Expression of programmed cell death proteins in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia.

Purpose: Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is a malignant myeloproliferative disease developing out of pluripotent hematopoietic stem cells that contain the fusion Bcr-Abl gene. The mechanisms that lead to these changes at molecular level are still unknown as are the mechanisms that increase the proliferative capacity of these cells. Disorders that occur in the process of apoptosis represent one of the possible molecular mechanisms that bring about disease progress.

A Ph-negative chronic myeloid leukemia with a complex BCR/ABL rearrangement and a t(6;9)(p21;q34.1).

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a clonal malignant disorder of a pluripotent hematopoetic stem cell characterized by the presence of the Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome in more than 90% of patients. Cryptic or "masked" BCR/ABL gene rearrangements may be found in cases with a normal karyotype and in cases with the complex karyotype, in which typical t(9;22) is not visible at the microscopic level. Those rearrangements can now be detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization.

[Second allogenic bone marrow transplantation after late graft rejection in a patient with severe aplastic anemia].

Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is the treatment of choice in young patients (pts) with severe aplastic anemia (SAA) who have an HLA identical sibling donor. Late graft rejection to following allogeneic BMT for SAA is a significant clinical problem and is associated with a high risk of mortality. The optimal treatment strategy for patients with late graft rejection after first BMT is still an open question.