Recently, two genes, AML1 and ETO have been isolated from the chromoso
mal breakpoint of t(8;21). In this study, we isolated and identified f
usion transcripts from a leukemic cell line carrying t(8;21). We demon
strated by PCR analysis that these transcripts are consistently expres
sed in fresh leukemic cells with t(8;21). On the other hand, the wild
type of ETO is expressed in several hematopoietic cells from different
lineage, while the expression of AML1 was present in all hematopoieti
c cells investigated. These widespread expression suggests these molec
ules play an essential role in hematopoiesis.