RAPID COMMUNICATION Persistence of the 8;21 Translocation in Patients With Acute Myeloid Leukemia Type M2 in Long-Term Remission

The translocation between chromosomes 8 and 21, t(8;21) (q22;q22), is the most frequent abnormality in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with French-American-British type M2 (FAB-MP) morphology. The breakpoints in this translocation have been characterized at the molecular level, and the genes involved areAML 1 on chromosome 21 and €TO on chromosome 8. The rearrangement of the two chromosomes results in a fusion gene and in the production of a consistent fusion transcript on the der(8) chromosome. We have used oligonucleotide primers derived from both sides of the fusion cDNA junction and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to analyze six AML-M2 patients with a t(8;21) during various stages of their disease. Two patients studied at diagnosis and one studied at first relapse are alive off therapy and in