p53 gene alterations in human hematological malignancies: a review.

Mutations of the tumor suppressor gene p53 are found in a wide variety of human tumors. In hematological malignancies, p53 alterations are involved in the evolution of chronic phase CML to myeloid blast crisis. p53 mutations were also found associated with Burkitt lymphoma (35%) and its leukemic counterpart, L3 type B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (60%). These observations suggest that several common mechanisms are involved in the transformation process of these two hematological disorders.