Deletion size characterization of der(9) deletions in Philadelphia-positive chronic myeloid leukemia

About 95% of the CML patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) have a Philadelphia chromosome resulting from a reciprocal translocation between bands 9q34 and 22q11.2 that juxtaposes the 3′ region of the ABL gene to the 5′ region of BCR. Over the past few years, submicroscopic deletions due to the loss of sequences proximal to chromosome 9 breakpoint or distal to chromosome 22 breakpoint have been found using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Among 150 CML bone marrow samples analyzed by molecular cytogenetics in our laboratory, 11 had a der(9) deletion detectable by FISH (deletion of the 5′ABL region and 3′BCR region in 10 samples and deletion of the 5′ABL region solely in 1 sample). To delineate the size of the deletions, FISH mapping was performed using 22 bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs), 11 on either side of the breakpoints, the mean distance between BACs being 0.5 Mb. The deletion size of the 5′ABL region on the der(9) extended from 2 to 5 Mb, the minimal deletion size being localized between BACs RP11-101E3 and RP11-83J21. In two patients, the deletion size of the 3′BCR region was about 500 kb (between RP11-80O7 and RP11-681C06). The poor prognosis associated with these deletions was postulated by several workers to be explained by haploinsufficiency of a tumor suppressor gene. However, in our cases, the hypothetical deletion of one or more tumor suppressor genes is not sufficient to explain the poor response to interferon therapy, but the good response to imatinib treatment. We think that there could be one or more genes coding for interferon receptors or for proteins acting directly or indirectly with these receptors in the deleted regions.