CHIP stands for clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential. CHIP is a precursor condition (early version) of more active blood cancers, such as myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Patients who have CHIP harbor cancerous mutations in blood-forming stem cells, but they do not have a clinical diagnosis of a blood cancer yet. The presence of mutations is an early hint that the process of developing a blood cancer has begun, and it can take a few years to develop the official diagnosis of a blood cancer.
Many different genes can be mutated in the blood-forming stem cells. Here are some examples of mutations that can be found in blood cells.
