Trisomy 11 in chronic myelomonocytic leukemia: report of two cases and review of the literature.

Two cases of chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMMoL) with trisomy 11 as the sole chromosome abnormality are reported. A simple trisomy 11 also has been reported in 11 patients with myeloproliferative disorders, including CMMoL and acute nonlymphocytic leukemia (ANLL) in the literature. From data on these 13 patients, leukemia with trisomy 11 may be characterized by a nonlymphoid origin and myelomonocytic features. Patients with this abnormality were mostly elderly, and often had a preleukemic phase and a short survival. We propose that trisomy 11 and nonlymphocytic leukemia with myelomonocytic features may be a new association in human neoplasia.