Abstract. The t(9;22)(q34;q11) translocation is present in 90-95% of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Variant complex translocations have been observed in 5-8% of CML patients, in which a third chromosome other than (9;22) is involved. Imatinib mesylate is the first line breakpoint cluster region-Abelson gene (BCR/ABL)-targeted oral therapy for CML, and may produce a complete response in 70-80% of CML patients in the chronic phase. In the present study, a bone marrow sample was used for conventional cytogenetic analysis, and the fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) test was used for BCR/ABL gene detection. A hematological analysis was also performed to determine the white blood cell (WBC) count, red blood cell count, hemoglobin levels, packed and mean cell volumes, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration and platelet values of the patient. The hematological analysis of the patient indicated the increased WBC of 186.5x10 3 cells/µl, and decreased hemoglobin levels of 11.1 g/dl. The FISH test revealed that 67% cells demonstrated BCR/ABL gene translocation. The patient was treated with 400 mg imatinib mesylate daily, and was monitored at various intervals over a 6-month period. The present study reports the rare case of a patient that demonstrates a three-way Philadelphia chromosome-positive translocation involving 46XY,t(9;11;22)(q34;p15;q11) [10], alongside CML in the chronic phase. The translocation was analyzed using cytogenetic and FISH tests.
IntroductionChronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a clonal myeloproliferative disorder of pluripotent stem cells. CML is caused by reciprocal translocation between the long arms of chromosomes 9 and 22, t(9;22)(q34;q11), termed the Philadelphia chromosome (Ph) (1,2). The translocation consists of the combination of the break-point cluster region (BCR) and Abelson (ABL) genes to form the fusion gene BCR/ABL, which produces a chimeric protein with deregulated tyrosine kinase activity. The tyrosine kinase activity is responsible for regulating the maintenance of adult tissues, aiding signaling pathways and regulating cell division (3-5). The fusion gene BCR/ABL is associated with increased levels of erythrocytes, monocytes, megakaryocytes, myelocytes and platelets in the peripheral blood and marked myeloid hyperplasia in the bone marrow (6).The Ph-positive translocation that results from reciprocal translocation between chromosomes 9 and 22 (q34;q11) is present in 90-95% of CML cases. However variant or complex translocations involving one or more additional chromosomes compared with (9;22)(q34;q11) may be observed in 5-8% CML patients (1,7,8).Gleevec imatinib mesylate (Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Basel, Switzerland) is an orally-designed selective BCR/ABL protein tyrosine kinase inhibitor, which may induce a complete cytogenetic response in 65-90% of CML patients (9,10). The therapy is the first line treatment for >90% of CML patients, and the key function of imatinib mesylate is to hinder proliferation and induce apoptosis in cel...