ONCOGENESIS IN-UTERO, FETAL DEATH DUE TO ACUTE MYELOGENOUS LEUKEMIA WITH AN MLL TRANSLOCATION

The incidence of translocations involving the 11q23 gene MLL is marked ly increased in leukaemias that occur in infants <1 year of age, Epide miological and molecular data have demonstrated that at least some of these translocations occur in utero. In this report we describe a case of fetal death at 36 weeks of gestation. At autopsy the fetus was fou nd to have widely disseminated acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML), FAB subtype M5. Molecular cytogenetic studies of nuclei recovered from par affin-embedded tissue sections demonstrated that the leukaemic cells c ontained an MLL translocation. This is the first detailed report, to o ur knowledge, of fetal death due to acute leukaemia, and directly demo nstrates oncogenesis in utero.