A 2p;11q chromosome translocation in dysmyelopoietic preleukemia.

Three patients with dysmyelopoietic preleukemia had a marrow clone with translocation t(2;11)(p21;q23) as the only chromosome change. In one patient, the cytogenetically altered cells disappeared following treatment with 13-cis-retinoic acid. Although these patients did not constitute a homogeneous clinical subgroup, the 2p;11q translocation should probably be added to the short list of nonrandom karyotypic alterations involving 11q23 that have been described in various hematopoietic disorders.