INVERSION-ASSOCIATED TRANSLOCATIONS IN ACUTE MYELOMONOCYTIC LEUKEMIA WITH EOSINOPHILIA

Cytogenetic studies of three acute myelomonocytic leukemias with bone marrow eosinophilia (M4EO) revealed chromosome 16 inversion associated with additional abnormalities. The inverted chromosome 16 was involve d in two patients. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) experimen ts with a YAC probe detecting inv(16) showed that the translocation br eakpoints involving chromosomes 16 did not implicate the inversion bre akpoints. FISH can thus distinguish between true variant translocation s and translocations with other breakpoints on chromosome 16 in M4EO. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.