Abstract

MEJIA OCHOA, Mónica  and  ACEVEDO TORO, Paola Andrea. Calreticulin: molecular aspects and techniques for its detection. Rev Cubana Hematol Inmunol Hemoter [online]. 2019, vol.35, n.1, e911. ISSN 0864-0289.

Chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms (NMPC) are clonal diseases characterized by an increase in the number of mature circulating cells; these diseases include: polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET), primary myelofibrosis (MFP) among others. One of the main molecular characteristics of these three entities is the absence of the BCR/ABL fusion gene. The first mutation related to this group of neoplasms was detected in the JAK2 gene; since its discovery, other mutations in thrombopoietin receptor (MPL) and calreticulin (CALR) genes have been strongly related with the presentation of the disease. Calreticulin is an endoplásmic reticulum protein with different functions in the cell such as calcium homeostasis and the chaperone activity. To date, a large number of mutations have been identified in CALR gene most of them are insertions and deletions that generate changes in the protein that generate important implications in the clinical course and prognosis of neoplasms. Due to its high frequency and strong association with NMPC, CALR mutations are included as a major criteria for the diagnosis of these entities. For this reason, several techniques have been developed aimed at the rapid, efficient, sensitive and specific detection of this mutation as: sequencing, fragment analysis and high resolution fusion analysis. The knowledge and implementation of these techniques in clinical laboratories is an important advance for the diagnosis and in the evolution of patients.

Keywords : myeloproliferative neoplasms; calreticulin; molecular diagnostic techniques.