MLLT3 gene on 9p22 involved in t(9;11) leukemia encodes a serine/proline rich protein homologous to MLLT1 on 19p13.

Recently, the MLL gene at 11q23 was found to be involved in a subset of leukemias with an 11q23 abnormality. In the present study, we isolated chimeric cDNAs between the MLL and a gene designated MLLT3 at 9p22 from a cDNA library of an IMS-M1 cell line with a t(9;11)(p22;q23) translocation, a representative karyotypic abnormality seen in acute monocytic leukemia. We also isolated a normal MLLT3 cDNA and found an open reading frame encoding at least 318 amino acids with high serine/proline content (24.8%). The chimeric mRNAs were demonstrated to be fused to MLL in frame, as found in t(11;19) and t(4;11) leukemias. The predicted MLLT3 protein demonstrated a significant homology to that of the MLLT1 gene at 19p13 involved in t(11;19) leukemia. The highest homology, up to 74.1%, was found in 86 amino acids of the C-terminus, suggesting that this region is of particular importance for leukemogenesis in t(9;11) leukemia. Northern blot analysis with the MLLT3 cDNA probe against normal tissues revealed multiple transcripts in lymphoid organs. A survey of hematopoietic cell lines demonstrated relatively stronger signals in cells belonging to megakaryocytic and erythroid lineages. As previously found in t(11;19) leukemia, heterogeneous MLL-MLLT3 chimeric mRNAs could be detected by the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in t(9;11) leukemia samples.