title: Acid phosphatase positivity in childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia.
abstract: The Pediatric Oncology Group analyzed 103 cases of childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) with an acid phosphatase stain and with a series of immunologic markers. As reported by others, the authors demonstrated a high correlation of acid phosphatase (AP) positivity and T-ALL. However, a subset of T-ALL was acid phosphatase negative, and some non-T, non-B, non-pre-B-ALL cases were AP positive. The predictive value of the AP test was, therefore, poor as a marker of T-ALL. AP-negative T-ALL cases appeared to be a distinctive subset of T-ALL, and AP negativity an intrinsic characteristic of this subset, rather than a failure of the test system. AP-positive n-ALL cases demonstrated no difference from AP-negative cases and, in particular, no evidence of early T-ALL differentiation.
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Head
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Borowitz
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cerezo
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Craven
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Brock
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Boyett
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Pullen
authors.forename: W M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Crist
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Falletta
authors.forename: G B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Humphrey
mesh_terms: D000135:Acid Phosphatase / Q000097:blood*; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D007945:Leukemia, Lymphoid / Q000145:classification / Q000201:enzymology*; D011446:Prospective Studies
chemical_list: D000135:Acid Phosphatase