Monoallelic deletions of the P53 gene in Chinese patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia in blastic crisis.

The configuration of the P53 tumor suppressor gene was investigated in 43 Chinese patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), 32 in chronic phase and 11 in blastic crisis. No obvious rearranged DNA band was detected in Southern blot patterns from patients at both stages of the disease. However, P53 gene deletion events were observed in 4 out of 11 cases in blast crisis. This finding was associated with a cytogenetically identifiable chromosome 17p deletion, iso(17q), in only one out of 4 cases.