DOUBLE P53 POINT MUTATION IN EXTRAMEDULLARY BLAST CRISIS OF CHRONIC MYELOGENOUS LEUKEMIA

A patient with Philadelphia-positive chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) evolved in extra-medullary blast crisis, was studied for the presence of alterations of the P53 tumor suppressor gene in the different stages of disease progression. No P53 gene aberrations were detected during the chronic and accelerated phases. Two identical missense point mutations, involving codons 249 and 281 and leading to the amino acid substitutions Arg-Ser and Thy-Asp, were identified in cells of an extramedullary mass and then in peripheral blood blast crisis cells. The data indicate that the medullary and extramedullary blast cells belong to the same cellular clone. They also strongly suggest that in this case, the alteration of P53 gene is strictly related to the progression of the disease, although this mechanism is certainly neither the only nor the most frequent molecular event leading to the acute phase.