BCR-ABL kinase domain mutations in chronic myeloid leukemia

SUMMARYThe production of the BCR-ABL-dependent kinase (protein p210) plays a key role in the leukemic cells transformation in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Actual approaches to CML treatment based on the use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) have dramatically changed the prognosis and quality of life of patients. However, during more than a decade of using TKI it became obvious that a number of patients have tumor cells resistant to TKI. One of the reasons of resistance are the mutations in BCR-ABL kinase domain. Due to different mechanisms the efficiency of TKI may decreas. This article provides information about the clinical relevance of point mutations in kinase domain BCR-ABL , their role in the development of resistance in CML patients. We also inform about the mutation detection algorithms and the ways to overcome resistance in patients with point mutations of BCR-ABL . Keywords: chronic myeloid leukemia, resistance, mutations of BCR-ABL .National Research Center for Hematology, MoscowКонтакты: denve@bk.ruПринято в печать: 4 апреля 2012 г.