We hypothesized that circCRKL can function in CML in concert with its parental gene CRKL. As expected, further loss of function assays showed that knockdown of circCRKL dampened CML cells proliferation in cell lines and mouse models, suggesting circCRKL exerts an oncogenic role in CML. The gene discussed is CRKL; the disease is chronic myelogenous leukemia, BCR-ABL1 positive.