Turkish Journal of Cancer, cilt.31, sa.2, ss.63-71, 2001 (Scopus)
Little is understood about the basic biological mechanisms that underlie the reasons for acute transformation in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Previously published reports on the potential role of microsatellite instability (MSI) in the transition from chronic to blastic phase CML, are limited in number and contain controversial results. We aimed to analyse DNA of chronic phase and blastic phase archive material of 13 CML patients for genomic instability identified by the presence of MSI using D1S430, D2S123, D3S1611, D11S29, D14S65, D17S520, BAT 40 markers, the dinucleotide repeat located in ABL, and the trinucleotide repeat located in BCR. Only two out of 13 patients manifest alterations in banding patterns in two or more loci examined and presented MSI (15%). We conclude that MSI may be a late occurring but rare event in CML evolution, and in itself is far from explaining the general instability observed in CML.