Correlation of FLT3 Mutation in Acute Myeloid Leukemia with Morphology and Cytogenetics

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the correlation of FLT3 mutation in acute myeloid leukemia with morphology and cytogenetics in the Pakistani population.

Methodology: The study was conducted at Chughtai Institute of Pathology from January 2022 to July 2023. Fifty newly diagnosed cases of AML were included, excluding patients who had received chemotherapy. FLT3 mutations were identified using the Imegen-FLT3 kit through PCR, while cytogenetic analysis was performed using FISH. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23.00. Normality of data was assessed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, and the Mann-Whitney U test was utilized to assess the correlation of FLT3 mutation.

Results: Of the fifty patients included, 29 (58%) were males and 21 (42%) were females, with a mean age of 41.7 years. FLT3 mutation was present in 29 (58%) patients and absent in 21 (42%) patients. Morphologic analysis did not reveal a correlation with any specific FAB subtype. Cytogenetic analysis was successful in 35 patients, with FLT3 mutation being randomly distributed among different cytogenetic subgroups, showing no specific correlation with any subgroup. The most common cytogenetic chromosomal abnormality detected was gain of chromosome 8. Blast percentage was significantly higher in FLT3 mutation-positive patients (72.3%) compared to FLT3 mutation-negative patients (56.76%) (p=0.02).

Conclusion: Although FLT3 mutation was prevalent among the patients studied, no significant correlation could be established between morphology and cytogenetics.