Allelic burden of Janus kinase 2 in a 6-month course of therapy for myeloproliferative neoplasms.

BACKGROUND: Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) V617F gene mutation is an important marker for the diagnosis of Philadelphia negative Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) which is subdivided into Polycythemia Vera (PV), Primary Myelofibrosis (PMF), and Essential Thrombocythemia (ET). The aim here is to investigate the JAK2 allele burden of the patients diagnosed with the subgroups of MPN and to demonstrate the alterations of hematological parameters and spleen size between diagnosis and 6 months of treatment. METHODS: A total of 107 patients with the diagnosis of MPN and negative Philadelphia chromosome, 51 males and 56 females with a mean age of 59,74 ± 16,41 years, were included in the study. Diagnosis of MPN was based on the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. Subgroups of MPN distributed as 49,5% ET, 46,7% PV, and 3,8% PMF. Findings such as the age of the patients, JAK-2 allele burden, and laboratory findings of splenomegaly were examined at the time of diagnosis, 3rd month, and 6th month. JAK2 allele burden and spleen size were re-evaluated in 6th month. RESULTS: Our study confirmed the findings of high Hb, HCT, and RBC but low platelet values in PV patients with high JAK2 allele burden with respect to other groups, a positive correlation between JAK2 allele burden and LDH. CONCLUSIONS: A novel finding of our study is, that there is not any reducing effect of the phlebotomy on JAK2 allele burden in PV patients whether they receive phlebotomy or not. Evaluation of the spleen size alteration during 6 months within the subgroups demonstrated a decrease in PV and ET groups whereas no statistically significant difference was found in the PMF group.

Retrospective Analysis of Survival in Patients with Brain Metastases from an Unknown Primary Tumor.

AIM: To evaluate the patients with brain metastases from unknown primary (BMUP) cancers, and to analyze the prognostic factors and survival rates. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study with 110 patients (mean age: 62.8 years [range 23?90], n=85- 77.3% male and n=25-22.7% female) with BMUP cancers at the time of diagnosis, who presented to our outpatient oncology clinic between January 2015 and December 2019. We employed the following variables as significant prognostic factors for a prominent index of patients? survival: age, gender, Karnofsky performance score (KPS), number of metastatic lesions, primary site, and type of treatment were analyzed for their prognostic effects on survival outcomes. Patients? survival was evaluated from plotted Kaplan? Meier curves, and the log-rank test was used for univariate analysis. RESULTS: The mean follow-up was 13 months (range 4?60 months). The means of survival after the diagnosis of brain metastasis was 18.7 months for the study group. Lung cancer was the most common primary tumor (74, 5%). The KPS and number of lesions were found to have a prognostic effect on survival. Survival analysis showed no statistical significance with age and gender, primary site, type of treatment. CONCLUSION: This study showed that KPS, and the number of lesions affect the survival outcomes but both the other variables. Therefore, BMUP cancer is indeed related to poor prognosis.