BMI1 and chronic myelogenous leukemia, BCR-ABL1 positive: Before evaluating the expression of the BMI1 protein in CD34+/CD26+ progenitors (whose CML identity was confirmed by the BCR-ABL1 protein expression in order to avoid the mature CD26+ lymphocytes), we identified among the 31 samples from the 20 patients enrolled into the study those with measurable levels of CD34+/CD26+ precursors.