title: Morphologic characteristics of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) with abnormalities of chromosome 8, band q24.
abstract: The CALGB prospectively studied 140 adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients for cytogenetic abnormalities. Seven (5%) patients with adequate cytogenetic preparations had t(8;14)(q24;q32) or t(8;22)(q24;q11). Patients were compared with non-8q24 patients for clinical and laboratory characteristics, response to therapy, and survival. The median age of patients with translocations involving 8q24 (71% males) was 40 years. Forty-three percent had lymphadenopathy, 29% splenomegaly, and 29% hepatomegaly. None exhibited central nervous system (CNS), skin, or gum involvement. These features did not differ significantly from non-8q24 ALLs. Patients with 8q24 translocations had higher hemoglobins (11.5 vs. 9.8 g/dl; P = 0.04) and lower percentage of blasts in the peripheral blood (8.5% vs. 69%; P = 0.007). Although all seven were finally categorized as ALL-L3, a marked variation in the proportion of typical L3 blasts was observed that initially resulted in the diagnoses of ALL-L2 in three cases and prolymphocytic leukemia in one. In five of five patients, the blasts typed as B cells (SIg+ and CD19+). Complete remission rates for patients with 8q24 translocations were 43%, whereas they were 68% for non-8q24 ALLS (P = 0.22). Furthermore, patients with 8q24 abnormalities exhibited significantly shorter survival (4.8 vs. 18.4 mo; P less than 0.001). We conclude that ALL with translocations of 8q24 in adults shows a mature B-cell immunophenotype (SIg+), poor prognosis and morphology ranging from classical ALL-L3 to ALL with a subpopulation of L3 cells. Thus, the diagnosis of ALL-L3 should be made when blastic cells possess a mature B-cell immunophenotype (SIg+) and an 8q24 translocation, even though the number of L3 cells is low.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, SUNY Health Science Center, Syracuse 13210.
authors.forename: F R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Davey
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lawrence
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: MacCallum
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Varney
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hutchison
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wurster-Hill
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schiffer
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Sobol
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ciminelli
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Le Beau
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology; D002871:Chromosome Banding; D002898:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 8; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D014178:Translocation, Genetic