It has been shown that a 600 bp long cluster of cell lineage specific hypomethylated sites in the major breakpoint cluster region (M-bcr) on chromosome 22 exists in hematopoietic cells. To determine possible relationships between methylation patterns within the M-bcr and the stage of hematopoietic cell development, the M-bcr methylation status of 39 patients with leukemia and lymphoma and two patients with myelodysplastic syndrome with non-rearranged M-bcrs was examined by BgIII-HpaII digestion. In the myeloid malignancies, the presence of a hypermethylated 4.8 kb BgIII-BgIII M-bcr allele was directly proportional to the combined myeloblast and promyelocyte percentage of the specimen, whereas the presence of a 2.5 kb BgIII-HpaII allele was directly proportional to the combined percentage of monocytic cells and neutrophils. All five acute monoblastic leukemias showed a methylation pattern that closely resembled neutrophils. All of thirteen surface immunoglobulin positive B-cell malignancies showed a distinct methylation pattern consisting of three or more BgIII-HpaII restriction fragments of 2.5 kb or less in length. The B-cell precursor leukemias showed heterogeneous M-bcr methylation patterns, with four of seven showing a B-cell pattern and three showing a hypermethylated pattern with 4.8, 3.1/3.0 and/or 2.5 kb BgIII-HpaII M-bcr alleles. It is concluded that the M-bcr methylation status is related to the maturation of the neutrophil series; the surface immunoglobulin positive B-cell malignancies are characterized by a distinct, extreme hypomethylation pattern of the M-bcr; and the B-cell precursor malignancies appear to have a heterogeneous M-bcr methylation pattern.