Breakpoint distribution in variant Philadelphia translocations in chronic myeloid leukemia

A statistical analysis of the 327 cases of variant Philadelphia chromosome so far reported in chronic myeloid leukemia was performed. The results showed 28 bands to be significantly rearranged; 11 bands are known to contain a fragile site; 12 are included in the smallest region of overlap of 14 proto-oncogenes. Also, 23 bands are known to be significantly involved in structural rearrangements in other malignancies.