High-resolution melt curve analysis: initial screening for mutations in BCR-ABL kinase domain

Mutations in BCR-ABL kinase domain are associated with resistance to tyrosine kinase inhibitors in some patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. Therefore, mutation detection becomes essential in such patients. We aimed to apply high-resolution melt curve analysis (HRM) for a rapid screening prior to sequencing to select only mutation positive samples. One hundred and one samples with different mutations and mutational ratios were used for HRM testing. HRM results of 100/101 samples were concordant with sequencing data. We found HRM as a suitable and sensitive method for initial rapid screening of BCR-ABL KD mutations to sequence only positive samples.