Transcriptional silencing of tumour suppressor genes (TSG) due to hypermethylation is a common event in human tumours. The three members of the KIP/CIP family of cyclin dependent kinase inhibitors (CDKIs), p21(CIP 1), p27(KIP 1), and p 57(KIP 2), play key roles in cell cycle regulation, but little is known about their methylation in myeloid neoplasia. Therefore, we analysed 9 haematopoietic cell lines, 67 myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and 26 acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) cases as well as 11 controls. p 57(KIP 2) hypermethylation was found in 4/9 cell lines, but methylation of p21(CIP 1) and p27(KIP 1) was infrequent. All patient samples analysed were methylation-negative for these three genes.