Chronic myelogenous leukemia is a type of cancer that affects the white blood cells, most often in older adults than children. The cancer is caused by a translocation event between chromosome 9 and chromosome 22. The break and results in a changed chromosome 9 and changed chromosome 22 that has the bcr-abl gene. Abl is a non-receptor tyrosine kinase protein, but the fusion with bcr disrupts regulation and increases signaling. Typically, multiple mutations occur that cause disruption and therefore cause cancer, but CML is particular in that it only requires the one mutation due to Abl having many functions and a role in important pathways like DNA damage repair. After the mutation though, it no longer does the repair and instead functions in cytoplasmic pathways like motility, survival, growth and proliferation.
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