PRESENCE OF THE BCR ABL REARRANGEMENT IN A PATIENT WITH CHRONIC NEUTROPHILIC LEUKEMIA/

An 83 year old woman presented with a myeloproliferative disorder invo lving the myeloid and megakaryocytic lines, and characterised by matur e neutrophil leucocytosis. There was a high/normal neutrophil alkaline phosphatase activity and absence of the Philadelphia chromosome, feat ures compatible with a diagnosis of chronic neutrophilic leukaemia (CN L). Southern blot analysis of the patient's DNA revealed the presence of the bcr/abl rearrangement. Combined with a previous report of detec tion of Ph(1) chromosome in long term bone marrow cultures in a patien t with CNL, this finding suggests that the bcr/abl hybrid gene might o ccasionally result in a myeloproliferative disorder with a phenotype c losely resembling that of CNL.