Tyrosine Kinase level and White Blood Cells Count in Untreated and Treated Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Patients with BCR ABL gene

Background: Molecularly, Chronic Myelogenus Leukemia (CML) is defined by the Philadelphia chromosome, t(9;22) (q34;q11.2), which encodes the BCR-ABL1 fusion protein, that disturb the function of tyrosine kinase. Role of tyrosine kinase activity in the cell, include cell-cycle control, transcription process, and mitogenesis, or induction of cell’s mitosis. These properties generate the use of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor for CML treatment through inhibition of signal transduction. The aim of this study is to find out the correlation between Tyrosine Kinase level as a mediator of signal transduction with the white blood cells count in untreatedand treated patients with CML. Subject and methods: This study was held on January–July 2014 in Clinical Pathology Laboratory of Dr Hasan Sadikin General Hospital Bandung, Indonesia. Subjects were divided into two groups: untreated group and treated group after treatments for CML. Chronic Myelogenus Leukemia is diagnosed if BCR-ABL gene is detected using Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction technique. Complete blood count was done using Sysmex XT2100i, while tyrosine kinase level was analyzed by Enzymelinked Immunosorbent Assay technique. Data were analyzed with Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and Spearman’s analysis. Results: Subject enrolled in this study were 57 CML patients, consist of 34 male and 23 female. We found a significant positive correlation between the number of white blood cell with Tyrosine Kinase level (r= 0.456; p<0.001) in both untreated and treated group. The level of Tyrosine Kinase and white blood cells count significantly higher in untreated CML patients compared to treated group. No significant different were found in, Red Blood Cells and platelet cells count within two groups. Conclusions: This study shown correlation between the numbers of WBC with level of Tyrosine Kinase, in untreated and treated CML patients.