Within cancer cells, researchers have found translocations between chromosome 7 and chromosome 11 in several people with leukemia. These rearrangements abnormally fuse part of HOXA13 or a similar gene on chromosome 7 to part of the NUP98 gene on chromosome 11. The protein produced from the fused gene probably signals abnormal cells to continue dividing without control or order, which likely contributes to the development of cancer.