A variant form of myelodysplastic syndrome with Ph- minor-BCR/ABL transcript

This study concerns a patient with minor (m)-BCR/ABL transcript-positive ki nd Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome-negative myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Th e patient was a 78-year-old man whose condition was diagnosed as refractory anemia with excess of blasts in transformation. Molecular genetic studies, using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis detected m- BCR/ABL messenger RNA. We used spectral karyotyping to analyze metaphase ce lls but could not detect a Ph chromosome. Fluorescence in situ hybridizatio n, however, revealed fusion signals of BCR and ABL probes on an apparently normal chromosome 22. (C) 2001 The Japanese Society of Hematology.