Acute promyelocytic leukemia: report of a variant translocation, t(1;17)

A 4-year-old female with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) was found to have a variant form of the 15;17 translocation, which is diagnostic of APL. The karyotype of the malignant cells was 47,XX,t(1;11)(q25;q21),t(1;17)(p36;q21), + 8. This case is additional evidence that the breakpoint of #17 at q21 is the characteristic chromosomal aberration of APL. The present case is also unusual because of the young age of the patient.