Childhood myelodysplastic syndromes with 11p15 translocation

Two cases of childhood myelodysplastic syndrome with chromosome abnormalities involving band 11p15 are described. The first case, with inv(11)(p15q23), had a complex clinical course; the initial diagnosis was aplastic anemia, then refractory anemia with excess of blasts in transformation (RAEB-t), and finally, before death, chronic myelomonocytic leukemia with hematologic features similar to those of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). The second case, with t(4;11)(p13;p15), progressed from RAEB to acute myelogenous leukemia (M2). In the literature, we found 12 patients with nonlymphocytic leukemia and chromosome abnormalities involving band 11p15, including seven cases with t(7;11)(p13-p15;p15); four cases (including the present case 1) showed CML-like hematologic features. It is suggested that translocations involving 11p15 are a nonrandom chromosome abnormality in nonlymphocytic leukemia.