Chromosome 4 Open Reading Frame 17 (C4orf17)

Chromosome 4 is one of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in humans. People normally have two copies of this chromosome. Chromosome 4 spans more than 186 million base pairs (the building material of DNA) and represents between 6 and 6.5 percent of the total DNA in cells.

Changes in chromosome 4 have been identified in several types of human cancer. These genetic changes are somatic, which means they are acquired during a person's lifetime and are present only in certain cells. For example, rearrangements (translocations) of genetic material between chromosome 4 and several other chromosomes have been associated with leukemias, which are cancers of blood-forming cells.