@Article{, title={BAX/BCL2 ratio in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and its association with ZAP‑70 expression and other clinicopathological parameters}, author={Dr. Rihab Malik Rahid, Department}, journal={Iraq Joural of Hematology المجلة العراقية لامراض الدم}, volume={9}, number={1}, pages={34-40}, year={2020}, abstract={BACKGROUND: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a heterogeneous disease with a highlyvariable clinical course and outcome. Many clinical and biological characteristics have been used toclassify patients with CLL into different subgroups of variable prognosis. Many studies have reportedthat in CLL, the interaction between pro‑ and antiapoptotic BCL2 family members influences thesensitivity to cytotoxic drugs and affects survival and overall outcome.OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to assess BCL2 and BAX expression and BCL2/BAX ratiorelation to other known prognostic markers (Binet stage, absolute lymphocyte count, lymphocytepercentage in bone marrow [BM], and ZAP‑70 and CD38 expression).PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study analyzed the expression of BCL2 and BAX, BCL2/BAXratio, and ZAP‑70 in the BM biopsy of 42 randomly selected CLL patients.RESULTS: BCL2 was positively expressed in 92.9% of CLL cases, significantly associated with Binetstage of disease (P = 0.04), ZAP‑70 (P = 0.001) but not with CD38, and also significantly correlatedwith absolute lymphocyte count (P = 0.015) and lymphocyte percentage in BM (P = 0.017). BAX waspositively expressed in 64.3% of CLL cases; there was no significant association between BAX withBinet or with other assessed prognostic factors (except with ZAP‑70, P = 0.001). BCL2 and BAXwere significantly correlated with each other (P = 0.001). BCL2/BAX ratio was not associated withany prognostic parameters we assessed.CONCLUSION: We may conclude that we may consider BCL2 as simple informative tool to assessdisease activity while BAX and BCL2/BAX ratio alone are of no prognostic value in prediction ofdisease course.

} }