A CORRELATION BETWEEN THE EXPRESSION OF THE BCR-ABL CHIMERIC GENE ANDSEVERITY OF THE CLINICAL STATE OF CML PATIENTS WITH TIME

Using the reverse polymerase chain reaction, four Ph' positive CML pat ients were followed for 2 years; a correlation between the severity of the clinical state and the b3a2 expression was noted with time. Addit ionally, amplification of the c-myc proto-oncogene was observed, using Southern blot analysis, in one patient prior to his entry to the blas t phase. No reorganization of the bcr-abl rearrangement site was found in the latter patient. The data suggest that a routine follow-up of C ML patients using the Southern blot analysis and the reverse transcrip tion-polymerase chain reaction might be of importance in evaluating th e progression of the disease.