t(8;20)(q22;p13): a novel variant translocation of t(8;21) in acute myeloblastic leukaemia.

A novel variant translocation t(8;20)(q22;p13) detected by karyotype analysis of bone marrow cells using R- and G-banding techniques, is reported in a case of M2-acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). The leukaemic cells were indistinguishable morphologically from that of M2-AML with t(8;21)translocation. RT-PCR revealed no AML1/ETO fusion transcript, but the wild-type ETO-3' was expressed in the bone marrow cells suggesting that t(8;20) is a true simple variant translocation of t(8;21), and that a fusion gene consisting of ETO and an unidentified gene located in band 20p13 may exist in our case. Further study is required to clarify the entity of the assumed fusion gene.