Recent advances in biological and therapeutic aspects of myeloproliferative disorders.

Chronic myeloproliferative disorders are clonal neoplasias that originate from a clonal pluripotent stem cell and may have a more or less pronounced tendency to acute progression. Except for chronic myelogenous leukemia marked by the Ph chromosome, the BCR/ABL rearrangement, or both, the other chronic myeloproliferative disorder subtypes show less specific, although recurrent, karyotypic and molecular abnormalities. We report here more recent advances in cytogenetics, molecular biology, and treatment of the most common chronic myeloproliferative disorders.