Overview:

BCR (also known as breakpoint cluster region) encodes a phosphoprotein that has serine/threonine kinase activity (1). The human c-ABL oncogene is translocated from chromosome 9 to a region on chromosome 22 (associated with BCR) in chronic myelocytic leukemia. In classical t(9;22) translocation, as observed in chronic granulocytic leukemia (CGL), a hybrid DNA unit is produced comprising the BCR gene product plus the translocated c-ABL gene from chromosome 9. The BCR-ABL hybrid protein (p210) is formed that displays increased tyrosine kinase activity. A similar DNA rearrangement of the p210 protein is also found in cases of Philadelphia-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) (2).

Gene Aliases:

ALL, CML, PHL, BCR1, D22S11, D22S662, FLJ1645

Genbank Number:

NM_004327

References:

1. Stam, K. et al: Evidence that the phl gene encodes a 160,000-dalton phosphoprotein with associated kinase activity. Mol. Cell Biol. 1987; 7(5): 1955-1960.

2. Eridani, S. et al: Molecular biology of Philadelphia chromosome in chronic granulocytic leukaemia and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Cytotechnology; 1: 33-36.