title: Frequency of BCR-ABL fusion transcripts in Sudanese patients with chronic myeloid leukemia using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To report the frequencies of BCR-ABL transcript variants studied in Sudanese patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out in 112 CML patients who attended at different   clinics of Khartoum state, Sudan from February 2007 to December 2010. Transcript analysis was successful in 109 venous blood and bone marrow samples using quantitative real-time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The transcripts analysis of 109 patients showed that 32.1% (35/109) expressed one or both of the P210 BCR/ABL rearrangements (b2a2 and b3a2). Of those 35 (32.1%), 21 patients expressed b2a2, 6 expressed b3a2, and 8 expressed both transcripts b2a2/b3a2. The remaining 74 patients revealed transcripts combination of P190 BCR/ABL and P210 BCR/ABL (e1a2/b2a2/b3a2), of which 19 patients had all the transcripts (e1a2/b2a2/b3a2), 33 revealed 2 transcripts (e1a2/b2a2), and the remaining 22 patients had (e1a2/b3a2).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The frequencies of BCR-ABL rearrangements in the Sudanese population  demonstrated distinct profiles in contrast with the frequencies reported in similar studies conducted in other geographical regions.This might be due to the distinct ethnic group involved in this study which has been supported further by reported distinct genetic profiles in Sudanese patients with bladder and breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, Faculty of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Alzaiem Alazhari University, Khartoum, Sudan. abdelrahimm@gmail.com
authors.forename: Abdelrahim M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Muddathir
authors.forename: Anwaar A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Kordofani
authors.forename: Imad M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Fadl-Elmula
mesh_terms: D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000235:genetics*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D013397:Sudan
chemical_list: D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl