BCR ABl Test
BCR ABl Testing Center
The most frequent applications of a BCR-ABL test are to identify or exclude chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) or a particular type of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) known as Ph-positive ALL. Ph-positive denotes the presence of the Philadelphia chromosome. Other forms of leukaemia cannot be detected by the test.
BCR-ABL is a mutation that results from the fusion of the two genes BCR and ABL. Some refer to it as a fusion gene.
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The BCR gene is typically located on chromosome 22.
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The ABL gene is typically located on chromosome 9.
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The BCR-ABL mutation is caused when bits of the BCR and ABL genes separate and swap positions.
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The ABL gene is a portion of the chromosome 9 fragment that separates. Part of the ABL gene joins the BCR gene as it translocates to chromosome 22. The BCR-ABL fusion gene is the name of the combined gene.
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The BCR-ABL gene is located on the altered chromosome 22, which is known as the Philadelphia chromosome after the location of its initial discovery by researchers.
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It is not possible to inherit the BCR-ABL gene mutation from your parents. Because it is a somatic mutation, you are not born with it. It comes later in life.
Patients with specific kinds of leukaemia, a malignancy of the bone marrow and white blood cells, carry the BCR-ABL gene. Nearly all individuals with chronic myeloid leukaemia, a form of leukaemia, have BCR-ABL (CML). CML is a different term for chronic myelogenous leukaemia. The same sickness is referred to by both names.
Additionally, the BCR-ABL gene is occasionally discovered in individuals with acute myelogenous leukaemia and in certain people with an aggressive form of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) (AML).