Further evidence that the site of the breakpoint in the major breakpoint cluster region (M-bcr) may be a prognostic indicator.
A break in chromosome 22 within the major breakpoint cluster region (M-bcr) is a characteristic of Philadelphia chromosome-positive CML. We have determined the zone of the breakpoint in 80 chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) patients and have confirmed our previous observation that a relationship does exist between the subregion of the breakpoint within the M-bcr and the average length of the chronic phase of the disease. Patients with a 3' breakpoint have a statistically shorter chronic phase (25 months) than patients with a 5' break (55 months). Thus, a molecular analysis of the M-bcr may provide a prognostically useful indicator of the probable length of the chronic phase, although the underlying mechanism of blast transformation, and the role (if any) of the hybrid phl-abl mRNA, is still unclear.
Mills
K I
KI
Leukaemia Research Fund Laboratory, Glasgow, U.K.
Hynds
S A
SA
Burnett
A K
AK
MacKenzie
E D
ED
Birnie
G D
GD
D001752:Blast Crisis / Q000209:etiology; D002892:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 22; D006801:Humans; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000235:genetics*; D011379:Prognosis; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D016315:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-abl; D011519:Proto-Oncogenes
D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D016315:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-abl