Recurrent translocations are uncommon in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Three 
new recurrent translocations, namely der(12)t(3;12)(q13;p13), 
t(11;13;22)(q13;q14;q12) and der(17)t(13;17)(q21;p13), identified by 
conventional cytogenetics (CC) in 4 MDS patients, were further characterized 
using a panel of commercial and homemade fluorescence in situ hybridization 
(FISH) probes. The goal of this study was to determine the precise breakpoints 
and to identify genes that could be related with the neoplastic process. Half of 
the breakpoints (4/8) were precisely identified and in the remaining half they 
were narrowed to a region ranging from 14 to 926 kb. All the studied breakpoints 
had interstitial or terminal deletions ranging from 536 kb to 89 Mb, and only 
those 7 Mb were detected by CC. The genes located in or around the breakpoints 
described in our study have not been previously related to MDS. The deleted 
regions include the ETV6 and RB1 genes, among others, and exclude the TP53 gene. 
FISH studies were useful to refine the breakpoints of the translocations, but 
further studies are needed to determine the role of the involved genes in the 
neoplastic process.