Chromosomal breakpoints within the first intron of the ABL gene are
nonrandom in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia
XY Jiang, JM Trujillo and JC Liang
Division of Laboratory Medicine, University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer
Center, Houston 77030.
Bone marrow cells from 37 patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML),
who had the characteristic Philadelphia chromosome in their leukemic cells,
were examined for ABL gene rearrangement by pulsed- field gel
electrophoresis. By using several probes from the ABL gene, we found that
in 33 of 37 (89%) patients studied, the translocation breakpoints in ABL
fell within the 175-kilobase (kb) intron between exons 1b and 1a.
Furthermore, breakpoints in this intron clustered in three regions,
approximately 30 +/- 5, 100 +/- 13, and 135 +/- 8 kb downstream from exon
1b. These findings suggest that there may be specific sequences in this
intron that facilitate the processes of chromosomal translocation.
Volume 76,
Issue 3,
pp. 597-601,
08/01/1990
Copyright © 1990 by The American Society of Hematology