A new translocation in chronic myelogenous leukemia

A reciprocal translocation involving chromosomes Nos. 3 and 22 has been found in a patient with seemingly Ph-negative chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). G-band analysis revealed, that deletion in No. 22 occurred at the same point, as in the typical cases of the disease. It was concluded, that breakage in No. 22 at a specific site with spatial disjunction of the resulting segments might be the crucial cytogenetic event in the genesis of CML, the Philadelphia chromosome not being an obligatory result of the rearrangement.