Unfavourable outcome of a patient with M2 acute non lymphocytic leukemia and a 47,XY,t(5;7)(q34;q21), +8 karyotype.

We report a patient with M2 acute non-lymphocytic leukemia and a complex karyotype: 47,XY,t(5;7)(q34;q21), +8. After chemotherapy with Daunomycin and Arabinosyl Cytosine, a complete remission was reached, but two months later he relapsed and died because of sepsis. Only 5 other cases with translocations involving chromosomes 5 and 7 have been described, but with different breakpoints. Several genes related to cell proliferation and maturation have been identified on the long arms of chromosomes 5 and 7. The possible involvement of specific genes located at or very close to the breakpoints is hypothesized.