MPL and acute myeloid leukemia: Other genes with hypomethylation and corresponding higher expression in t(8;21) vs. other subtypes included: MGMT (methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase), a tumor suppressor gene that has been associated with risk of AML development [38]; MPL (myeloproliferative leukemia virus oncogene), which has been shown to be essential for survival and self-renewal of human preleukemic t(8;21) cells [39].