Melting Curve Analysis after T Allele Enrichment (MelcaTle) as a Highly Sensitive and Reliable Method for Detecting the JAK2V617F Mutation

Detection of the JAK2 V617F mutation is essential for diagnosing patients with classical myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). However, detection of the low-frequency JAK2 V617F mutation is a challenging task due to the necessity of discriminating between true-positive and false-positive results. Here, we have developed a highly sensitive and accurate assay for the detection of JAK2 V617F and named it melting curve analysis after T allele enrichment (MelcaTle). MelcaTle comprises three steps: 1) two cycles of JAK2 V617F allele enrichment by PCR amplification followed by Bsa XI digestion, 2) selective amplification of the JAK2 V617F allele in the presence of a bridged nucleic acid (BNA) probe, and 3) a melting curve assay using a BODIPY-FL-labeled oligonucleotide. Using this assay, we successfully detected nearly a single copy of the JAK2 V617F allele, without false-positive signals, using 10 ng of genomic DNA standard. Furthermore, MelcaTle showed no positive signals in 90 assays screening healthy individuals for JAK2 V617F. When applying MelcaTle to 27 patients who were initially classified as JAK2 V617F-positive on the basis of allele-specific PCR analysis and were thus suspected as having MPNs, we found that two of the patients were actually JAK2 V617F-negative. A more careful clinical data analysis revealed that these two patients had developed transient erythrocytosis of unknown etiology but not polycythemia vera, a subtype of MPNs. These findings indicate that the newly developed MelcaTle assay should markedly improve the diagnosis of JAK2 V617F-positive MPNs.