Heterogeneity of the breakpoint localization in malignant cells with a 9p11 chromosomal abnormality

The p11 band of the short arm of chromosome 9 is involved in various cytogenetic alterations occurring in several malignant diseases. Using probes isolated from the 9p11 band in the study of a case of alpha-heavy-chain disease (MAL) with t(9;14)(p11;q32), we studied the DNA from seven malignant cell samples, including four cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia with tdic(9;12)(p11;p12). Using pulsed-field electrophoresis analysis we demonstrated that the breakpoints were 3-300 kb distant from the original MAL breakpoint without clustering within the subset of leukemias with the tdic(9;12).