Nearly all cases of CML (95%) involve a chromosomal translocation in which a small portion of the long arm of chromosome 9 is translocated to the long arm of chromosome 22. This translocation is known as the Philadelphia Chromosome. Molecular studies have shown that a portion of the c-abl gene is translocated from chromosomes 9 and 34 to chromosome 22 and 11, into the c-bcr region. The chimeric gene, termed bcr-abl, produces an abnormal 8.5 kb mRNA that encodes for a 210 kD fusion protein. This figure illustrates the several fusion points.
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