P53 tumor suppressor gene in chronic myelogenous leukemia: a sequential study

Loss of the p53 gene alleles was investigated in 26 patients with Ph+, BCR/ABL+ chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) by means of the polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis using the restriction enzyme AccII. In all cases, peripheral blood and/or bone marrow samples were obtained at different times during the chronic phase of the disease and at blast crisis, and in some of them also at the accelerated phase. Of the 12 cases considered informative, 11 evolved into myeloid type blast crisis and one into a lymphoid blast crisis, whereas only two showed an i(17q) chromosome at cytogenetic study. In four of the 12 informative cases, a loss of one p53 gene allele was observed, in all cases coincident with the development of the accelerated phase or blast crisis. One patient with a deleted p53 gene allele, in whom it was possible to analyze the gene structure in the three CML evolutive phases (chronic and accelerated phases and blast crisis), showed loss of the p53 gene allele in both the accelerated and the blastic phase, but not during the chronic phase. On the other hand, one of the two cases with an i(17q) chromosome exhibited one allelic deletion of the p53 gene. Thus, the relatively frequent monoallelic deletion of the p53 gene coincident with the appearance of the blast crisis registered in the present study would support a possible role of the p53 gene alterations in the evolution of CML to its final stages.