FLT3 (FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3) mutations in childhood acute leukemia

Purpose: In this study it is aimed to investigate the presence of mutations of FLT3 receptor which is related with cellular surveillance, differentiation and proliferation pathways, and whether its presence affects prognosis and other clinical parameters in childhood leukemias.Matherial and Methods: Fifty three patients diagnosed as ALL and sixteen patients diagnosed as AML by cytomorphological, immunohistochemical and immuno flow-cytometric methods were included in this study.Results: FLT3/TKD mutation distribution in ALL and AML groups is as follows; only one patient in ALL group and 4 patients in AML group were detected. In ALL group the patient having mutation is 8 years old boy, in pre-B group ALL-L1, alive and also in remission. In the patients with mutation of AML group: one have relapsed disease and totally 3 of them deceased including relapsed patient, but there is no difference of mortality or morbidity between FLT3/TKD mutation carrying and others in AML patients statistically (p>0.05).Conclusion: In this study it is concluded that FLT3/TKD mutations have no prognostic significance within acute leukemia patients. Mutations were found to be higher in AML group than ALL, but even in AML group FLT3/TKD mutations don?t mean any mortality or morbidity variations.As a result, it is possible that because of the selection of limited patient groups, the relations between mutation and prognosis may not be seen so studies including more crowded patient groups may be helpfull to find clear relations between FLT3 mutations and its results having prognostic importance.