This article is a more specific discussion of CML. Please be sure to read Leukemia: The Basics first, so you have a basic understanding of leukemia. The discovery of CML CML is a chronic blood cancer that starts with a defect in two chromosomes and results in an overgrowth of white blood cells; it is one of the only cancers with a known specific gene mutation Each person has 23 chromosomes, which contain DNA and a person's genetic makeup (genes). While CML has been recognized since the late 1800's, it was the discovery of the Philadelphia chromosome in 1960 that changed the face of CML. Drs. Peter Nowell and David Hungerford, two Philadelphia researchers, were experimenting with cells from various types of leukemia when one noticed a smaller-than-normal chromosome number 22 on the cancer cells of 2 individuals with CML. With the far less sophisticated techniques of the time, they were ... read more on Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML): The Basics