Somato Publications Annals of Leukemia Research Research Article MECOM Amplification on a Ring Chromosome 3 and a Marker, a Rare Cause of MECOM Overexpression in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Karolien Beel1, Inge Vrelust2, Geneviève Ameye1, Barbara Dewaele1 and Lucienne Michaux1 1Center for Human Genetics, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium 2Department of Hematology, AZ Turnhout, Turnhout, Belgium *Address for Correspondence: Karolien Beel, Center for Human Genetics, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, E-mail:
[email protected] Received: 26 April 2019; Accepted: 18 May 2019; Published: 20 May 2019 Citation of this article: Beel, K., Vrelust, I., Ameye, G., Dewaele, B., Michaux, L. (2019) MECOM Amplification on a Ring Chromosome 3 and a Marker, a Rare Cause of MECOM Overexpression in Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Ann Leuk Res, 2(1): 005- 007. Copyright: © 2019 Beel K, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Increased expression of MECOM is found in approximately 10% of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and is associated with chemoresistance and a poor prognosis. Chromosomal translocations involving chromosome band 3q26.2 explain only a minority of cases with MECOM overexpression. Here, we present a patient with intrachromosomal MECOM the complexity of mechanisms leading to MECOM overexpression in AML. amplification on a ring chromosome, demonstrating Our case underscores the need for FISH for the characterisation of chromosome 3 aberrations in AML. It also illustrates that overexpression of MECOM, irrespective of the underlying mechanism, is often accompanied by additional (secondary) karyotypic changes.