Protein-coding genes and long noncoding RNAs are differentially expressed in dasatinib-treated chronic myeloid leukemia patients with resistance to imatinib.

Dasatinib has demonstrated efficacy in patients with chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) who had resistance or intolerance to imatinib. However, some patients also develop resistance or intolerance to dasatinib. To identify potential molecular pathways involved in primary resistance to dasatinib in CML, we analyzed gene expression profiles of mononuclear cells of 7 imatinib-resistant patients, collected before and after 1-year dasatinib treatment. Large-scale gene expression was measured with Agilent microarrays covering protein-coding genes and long (>200 nt) noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). Sets of genes and lncRNAs significantly differentially expressed (>1.5 fold-change; q value ≤10%) were identified. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis pointed to a number of functions, canonical pathways and gene networks that were significantly enriched with differentially expressed genes. In addition to protein-coding genes, lncRNAs have been recently implicated in pathways leading to tumorigenesis. Our data point to new possible regulatory elements involved in dasatinib resistance in CML.

New mutations detected by denaturing high performance liquid chromatography during screening of exon 6 bcr-abl mutations in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Point mutations within the ABL kinase domain are the most frequent mechanism for reactivation of kinase activity of the BCR-ABL gene and have been associated with clinical resistance to tyrosine kinase (TK) inhibitors in patients with CML, conferring a poor prognosis. T315I (Treonine-->Isoleucine) is a mutation in the exon 6 of BCR-ABL gene that makes the protein resistant to kinase inhibitors currently used for treating CML. Denaturing High-performance liquid chromatography (D-HPLC) allows for high throughput mutation screening. In this study, we screened mutations in exon 6 of the BCR-ABL gene in patients presenting failure or sub optimal response according to Leukemia Net criteria and correlated the presence of mutations with clinical outcome. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood samples from 93 patients with CML (5 intolerant and 88 resistant). The PCR product was analysed by D-HPLC, and the patients samples with abnormal D-HLPC profiles were submitted to automated sequencing, using specific primers. Overall survival (OS) was calculated from the date of mutation analysis, for the whole group and for both groups (mutation versus no mutation). We screened mutations in exon 6 of the BCR-ABL gene in 93 CML TKI - resistant patients. Twenty-three out of 93 samples (25%) showed an abnormal elution profile. Automated sequencing confirmed the presence of a nucleotide change in 19 out of 23 cases: one polymorphism, T315T, seven known point mutations: T315I, F317L, V339L, M351T, E355G and F359V and three novel mutations: C305R, D325D and I360S. OS for the whole group was 80% in a median observation time of 30 months. OS for patients without the mutation was 87% and with the mutation was 56%, in a median observation time of 37 and 10 months, respectively (p < 0.0001, RR = 68). D-HPLC is a practical and sensitive method for routine clinical monitoring for emergence of kinase domain mutations and may be useful for optimising therapy in CML. The screening of mutations in exon 6 is clinically relevant, once the presence of mutations confers a poor outcome. Early detection of emerging mutant clones may help in decision-making for alternative treatment.

Avaliação do valor prognóstico da detecção do status quimérico de pacientes após o transplante alogênico de células progenitoras hematopoéticas / Evaluation of prognostic importance of the detection of chimerical status in post-allogeneic progenitor cell transplantation patients

Este trabalho teve por objetivo correlacionar o status quimérico de pacientes pós -TCPH alogênico com parâmetros clínicos, para avaliar o valor preditivo dos achados laboratorias de quimerismo. Amostras de sangue de 98 pacientes (67 em seguimento e 31 novos casos) foram submetidas à análise do status quimérico pós-TCPH. Os "loci"analisados por biologia molecular foram CS1PO, TPOX, F13A1, FESFPS, HUMTH01, VWA, SE33, HUMARA, HUMD21S11 e Amelogenina. Precocidade da evidência laboratorial de quimerismo misto (QM), em relação ao aparecimento dos sintomas clínicos de recaída, foi observada em 9 dos 12 pacientes nas LA, ou seja, nesses casos, a primeira manifestação de QM foi detectada pelo exame laboratorial antes de qualquer evidência citológica ou clínica de recaída. Em todos eles, houve uma mudança terapêutica relacionada com esse momento do aparecimento do QM. Em 100 por cento dos pacientes com QM na LMC, a detecção do quimerismo pelo exame laboratorial foi anterior a qualquer evidência citológica ou clínica de recaída. De uma maneira geral, o exame laboratorial da avaliação do status quimérico pós-TCPH alogênico pela análise dos "loci"hipervariáveis do genoma, mostrou ser um exame sensível, com detecção de até 1 por cento de QM e precoce, visto que, muitas vezes, foi a primeira manifestação de doença residual antes de qualquer evidência citológica ou clínica da mesma. A associação da existência de QM e a recaída clínica e/ou óbito fica mais evidente nos casos de LA do que nos casos de LMC e AAS.

This study aimed to correlate the chimerical status in post-allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) patients to clinical patterns in order to evaluate the predictive value of chimerism laboratorial findings. Blood samples from 98 patients (67 current and 31 new cases) were submitted to post-HSCT chimerical status analysis. The CS1PO, TPOX, F13A1, FESFPS, HUMTH01, VWA, SE33, HUMARA, HUMD21S11 and Amelogenian loci were analyzed. Precocity of Mixed Chimerism (MC) laboratorial evidence in relation to recurrent clinical symptom manifestations was observed in 9 out of 12 patients in AL, i.e., in these cases the first MC manifestation was detected in laboratory tests before any cytological or clinical evidence. In all cases, there was a therapeutic change due to MC onset. Chimerism detection through laboratorial examinations was prior to any cytological or clinical evidence in 100 percent of patients presenting MC in CML. Considering that it was the first manifestation of residual disease, before any cytological or clinical manifestation, laboratorial examination to evaluate chimerical status in post-allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation through analysis of genome hyper-variable loci, turned out to be a more sensitive examination and presented a detection rate of up to 1 percent for early MC. The association of MC to clinical recurrence and/death is more evident in AL cases than in CML and SAA.