Near-tetraploidy in childhood B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia is a highly specific feature of ETV6/RUNX1-positive leukemic cases

✍ Scribed by Andishe Attarbaschi; Georg Mann; Margit König; Manuel Steiner; Michael N. Dworzak; Helmut Gadner; Oskar A. Haas

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 89 KB
• Volume: 45
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1045-2257
• DOI: 10.1002/gcc.20324

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Near‐tetraploidy (82–94 chromosomes) makes up fewer than 1% of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cases and has been reportedly associated with a possibly poorer prognosis compared with other ploidy groups. We analyzed 783 patients enrolled in the ALL‐BFM‐Austria 86, ‐90, ‐95, ‐99/2000 and Interfant‐Austria 99 trials in order to assess its incidence, biological characteristics, and prognostic relevance. Twelve of 783 patients (1.5%) had a near‐tetraploid ALL. Fluorescence in situ hybridization revealed that eight of the nine B‐cell precursor (BCP) cases and none of the three T‐cell ALL cases had an ETV6/RUNX1 rearrangement. After a median follow‐up of 11.4 years, none of the patients has relapsed or died. Thus, near‐tetraploidy appears to be a specific feature of ETV6/RUNX1+ BCP ALL cases that in turn may explain its excellent outcome. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.