The inv(11)(p15q22) chromosome translocation of therapy-related myelodysplasia with NUP98-DDX10 and DDX10-NUP98 fusion transcripts.

Chromosomal abnormalities involving the 11p15 or 11q22-23 bands have been reported in several types of human neoplasms including hematopoietic malignancies. The abnormalities are observed in therapy-related malignancies and less frequently in de novo myeloid malignancies. Abnormality of the MLL gene located on chromosome 11q23 has been well known in therapy-related myeloid malignancies, but it has been reported only recently that the inv(11)(p15q22) in de novo or therapy-related myeloid malignancies results in the fusion of NUP98 on chromosome 11p15 and DDX10 on chromosome 11q22. NUP98 is a nucleoporin that composes the nuclear pore complex and is the target gene in leukemia with the t(7;11)(p15;p15). The DDX10 gene encodes a putative adenosine triphosphate-dependent DEAD box RNA helicase. Here we present another patient with acute myelocytic leukemia (M4) transformed from chronic myelomonocytic leukemia with the inv(11) chromosome who had been treated with etoposide for a germ cell tumor. By reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of the RNA from the leukemic cells of the patient, DDX10-NUP98 and NUP98-DDX10 fusion transcripts were detected. Our case confirms that the inv(11) is a rare chromosomal translocation that is associated with therapy-related or de novo myeloid malignancy and involves NUP98 and DDX10 but not MLL. RT-PCR of the fusion transcripts might be applied to the detection of a small number of leukemic cells in the bone marrow or blood of patients in remission or in the cells harvested for autologous transplantation.