Feasibility of iFISH patterns in hematologic malignancies among Congolese patients at Kinshasa University clinics

Abstract

To analyze the feasibility of detecting Ph1 in leukemia patients in the Kinshasa University Clinics in the Democratic Republic of Congo, at KU Leuven, Belgium. Bone marrow and peripheral blood samples with chronic myeloid leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia or acute leukocytes leukemia were obtained from 32 patients in Kinshasa University clinics in the Democratic Republic of Congo and transferred to KU Leuven in Belgium for iFISH feasibility. Ph1 was detected by using a remote analysis of interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (iFISH). Out of the 32 patients involved in this study, 65.6% (n = 21) of the cases were successfully tested, of which 52.4% (n = 11) were iFISH positives for the variant t(9;22) (presence of Ph1) in chronic myeloid leukemia samples and 47.6% (n = 10) negatives in all subtypes of hematological malignancies. However, there was a female predominance in chronic myeloid leukemia samples Ph1-positives by iFISH, whereas no sexual influence was observed on acute subtypes of leukemia. iFISH analysis is feasible on samples obtained from remote sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, the optimization of the sample storage is necessary to further improve iFISH's performance.