BCR-ABL

From Ganfyd

The BCR-ABL fusion proteins are formed by an unknown mechanism usually by a reciprocal translocation t(9;22)(q34;q11). The resulting protein has components from the breakpoint cluster region protein at the amino terminus giving it serine-threonine kinase activity and tyrosine kinase Abelson murine leukaemia protein (ABL) which has nucleus, DNA and actin binding sites.

Targeted therapy of this abnormality is possible with tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Genetic coding of some BCR-ABL fusion proteins and the indicative gene codes for normal human BCR and ABL for reference. Numbers indicate exons. The commonest is p190 (e1a2) making up 95%. The tyrosine kinase region on ABL-1 is indicated by orange background to the intron region