ABL1 and chronic myelogenous leukemia, BCR-ABL1 positive: Collectively, our findings validated a hypermethylated pattern for NOV/CCN3 gene in CML patients, which is not influenced by the imatinib therapy, suggesting this as a BCR-ABL independent molecular event, which raises the question that whether the CCN3 hypermethylation serves as an early trigger for CML formation.