Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a proliferative disorder of the hematopoietic system characterized by clonal expansion of a primitive and pluripotent stem cell. In this type of leukemia, up to 90% of all cases is associated to a specific chromosomal translocation, t(9;22)(q34;q11). The genomic alteration results in a chimeric protein, BCR-ABL, that confers a high resistance leukemia cells to death, independent of the induction mechanism of this process. Protein p53 is a transcriptional factor expressed after DNA damage which ceases cell cycle progression and consequently activates repair mechanisms or even induces apoptosis. Mutations of TP53 are the most common genetic alterations in malignant tumors in humans. The main objective of the current study was to genotype and determine the allelic frequency of the TP53 polymorphism at codon 72 in patients suspected of having CML using a PCR-based assay. The frequencies of the genotypes among the cases were: 73.4% (23\30) and 26% (7\30) for homozygous arginine (Arg-72) and heterozygous proline/arginine (Pro/Arg-72), respectively. Homozygous proline (Pro-72) was not observed in the current study. The results obtained suggest that the TP53 polymorphism at codon 72 is not an important risk factor for the initiation, promotion, nor progression of CML.
Chronic myeloid leukemia; CML; polymorphism; TP53
