ACUTE PROMYELOCYTIC LEUKEMIA WITH T(15-16-17-19) AND UNUSUAL FLUORESCENCE IN-SITU HYBRIDIZATION PATTERN WITH PML AND RARA PROBES

We report a 58-year-old female with typical morphological and clinical features of acute promyelocytic leukemia in whom a complex translocat ion involving chromosomes 15, 16, 17 and 19 was defected using convent ional cytogenetics and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with chromosome specific paints. RARA-PML fusion was not evident by FISH, b ut the RARA signal was split in 74.5% of cells. GTL-banding and FISH w ith probes for PML, RARA and chromosome 15 specific paint raise the po ssibility of PML-RARA fusion on the abnormal chromosome 19 in the comp lex translocation. The unusual PML-RARA fusion may be related to this patient's poor response to induction therapy with all-trans-retinoic a cid. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 1996