Quantitative BCR-ABL1 RQ-PCR fusion transcript monitoring in chronic myelogenous leukemia.

The reciprocal Philadelphia translocation between chromosomes 9 and 22 [t(9;22)(q34;q11)] creates a BCR-ABL1 fusion protein that occurs in approximately 95% of cases of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), 15% of cases of adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and 5% of adult cases of acute myeloid leukemia. The BCR-ABL1 protein is a constitutively activated tyrosine kinase that induces and maintains the neoplastic phenotype in these leukemias. PCR-based methods to identify and quantitate the tumor-specific BCR-ABL1 RNA have been shown to be an ultrasensitive diagnostic/prognostic tool for Philadelphia-positive leukemias.