Frequency of JAK2 V617F mutation in patients with Philadelphia positive Chronic Myeloid Leukemia in Pakistan

Background and objective: co-existence of myeloproliferative disorders (mpd) and janus associated kinase 2 mutation (jak2 v617f) is a well-established fact. only few case reports are available showing presence of jak2 v617f mutation in chronic myeloid leukemia (cml). purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of jak2 v617f mutation in philadelphia chromosome positive (ph^+) cml patients in pakistan. methods: the study was conducted from august 2009 to july 2010 at civil hospital and baqai institute of hematology (bih) karachi. blood samples from 25 patients with cml were collected. multiplex reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr) was performed for breakpoint cluster region – abelson (bcr-abl) rearrangement. conventional pcr was performed for jak2 v617f mutation on bcr-abl positive samples. results: all 25 samples showed bcr-abl rearrangement. out of these 11 samples (44%) had jak2 v617f mutation; the remaining 14 (56%) cases showed jak2 617v wild type. conclusion: it is concluded that the co-existence of ph +cml and jak2 v617f mutation is possible.