title: Mature B-cell acute leukemia: a clinical, morphological, immunological, and cytogenetic study of nine cases.
abstract: Nine patients who presented with acute lymphoid leukemia of mature B-cell phenotype without FAB-L3 morphology are discussed. All patients were male with a median age of 69 years. All patients had extensive bone marrow involvement at presentation with lymphoid leukemic cells in the peripheral blood. Six patients had extramedullary disease and 3 developed meningeal involvement sometime during the course of their illness. The leukemic cells were negative for terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase in all 9 cases, and monoclonal surface immunoglobulin was demonstrated in all 8 cases evaluated with a lambda light chain predominance. Clonal chromosomal abnormalities were detected in 4 of 6 cases studied with no specific pattern identified, although abnormalities involving chromosome 8 were present in all 4 cases. Despite aggressive chemotherapy, only 2 patients achieved complete remission which was of short duration (1 month) in 1 patient. Eight patients died of their disease 1 week to 20 months after diagnosis with a median survival of 5.5 months. Mature B-cell acute leukemias that are not of the FAB-L3 type have a very aggressive clinical course and poor prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Pathology, Atlanta, Georgia 30322.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hammami
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Michels
authors.forename: V H
authors.initials: VH
authors.lastname: Nassar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002051:Burkitt Lymphoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D004253:DNA Nucleotidylexotransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D007621:Karyotyping; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004253:DNA Nucleotidylexotransferase