As depicted in Fig. 3a, measurement of separase activity and comparison of calculated SAD values between healthy controls (n = 14), CML patients without MMR (n = 41), and patients in MMR or deeper (n = 47) revealed the highest SAD values in the cohort of patients with the highest BCR-ABL1 expression (noMMR, mean 19.2 ± 4.38, range 13.0 to 34.8) when compared with the control group (healthy, mean 12.2 ± 2.22, range 8.0 to 15.4; 95% CI, − 10.16 to − 3.868) and the therapy responder group (MMR or deeper, mean 15.4 ± 3.86, range 9.7 to 23.5; 95% CI, 1.663 to 6.010). This evidence concerns the gene ESPL1 and chronic myelogenous leukemia, BCR-ABL1 positive.