Immunoglobulin gene rearrangement in acute myelogenous leukemia.

Twenty-one cases of newly diagnosed nonlymphocytic leukemia were subjected to analysis of immunoglobulin gene organization. Although immunoglobulin gene organization is an essential property of B-lineage cells, immunoglobulin gene rearrangement has also been observed in mouse T-cells and occasionally in cultured human T-cell leukemic cells. Here we report the first case of acute myelogenous leukemia in which mu-chain gene rearrangement is demonstrated. This finding provides a further step in our understanding of both normal and abnormal hematopoietic cell differentiation and the heterogeneity of nonlymphocytic leukemia.