Therapy-related Myeloid Leukemia With the Translocation t(8;19)(p11;q13) Leading to a KAT6A-LEUTX Fusion Gene.

BACKGROUND/AIM The chromosome translocation t(8;19)(p11;q13) has been reported in only six acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. We here present the genetic and clinical features of the seventh AML case with this aberration. MATERIALS AND METHODS Cytogenetic and molecular genetic investigations were performed on leukemic bone marrow cells from a patient with therapy-related AML. RESULTS A t(8;19)(p11;q13) was found leading to an in-frame fusion of exon 16 of the lysine acetyltransferase 6A gene (KAT6A) from 8p11 with exon 2 of the leucine twenty homeobox gene (LEUTX) from 19q13 resulting in expression of the otherwise silent LEUTX gene in the leukemic cells. The KAT6A-LEUTX protein is predicted to act as a histone acetyltransferase at its amino-terminal-KAT6A moiety but as a homeobox transcription factor at the LEUTX-carboxyl-terminal moiety. CONCLUSION The present case is the second therapy-related AML, and the third AML overall, in which both a t(8;19)(p11;q13) and its molecular result, a KAT6A-LEUTX fusion gene, are described. The t(8;19)(p11;q13)/KAT6A-LEUTX deregulates transcription and induces leukemogenesis.