Two bcr/abl fusion gene products with tyrosine kinase activity have been found in two phenotypes of Philadelphia chromosome (Ph1)-positive leukemia. P210bcr/abl (P210) is associated with Ph1-positive chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), while P190bcr/abl is associated with Ph1-positive acute leukemia. We compared the susceptibility of 32Pi-labeled P210 from K-562 cells and P190 from MR-87 cells to protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTPase). PTPase, present in the lysate of mature granulocytes from CML patients as well as in the lysate of these cells from normal subjects, effectively dephosphorylated the CML-associated P210 and the acute leukemia associated P190. This PTPase activity was specifically inhibited by ZnCl2; it was not present in lymphocyte lysates, and was not inhibited by neutralization with anti-CD45 antibody. Since P210 and P190 were equally sensitive to the PTPase, the difference in leukemic phenotypes associated with the expression of these two tyrosine kinases cannot be explained by the differential dephosphorylation of P210 and P190.