title: Mixed acute leukemia with genotypic lineage switch: a case report.
abstract: Morphologically well classifiable leukemias can reveal a mixed phenotype. A case of acute myeloid leukemia (CD13, CD33, CD14, CD11b) which at presentation showed a co-expression of B-lymphoid markers (CD19, CD10, CD20), at the time of the first relapse revealed a morphologic, phenotypic and genotypic switch of the blasts to a purely lymphoid form. Analysis of the immunoglobulin (Ig) H chain locus and of the T-cell receptor (TCR) genes showed at diagnosis a germline configuration of the IgH, TCR beta and tau genes, and a deletion of the TCR delta gene at the second chromosome. At relapse, monoclonal rearrangements of the IgH, TCR tau, and TCR delta were detected. At a subsequent relapse, the blasts re-expressed myeloid morphologic features and myeloid-associated antigens, while they retained the same rearranged configuration of the IgH and TCR beta and delta genes. The TCR delta gene configuration, which links each phase of the disease, may represent an early pathogenetic event and makes the emergence of a second malignancy unlikely. Each phenotypic change occurred after anti-myeloid and anti-lymphoid oriented chemotherapy. The close correlation between the progressive acquisition of different phenotypes and the switch at the genomic level represent the peculiar features of this unusual case.
authors.affiliation: Division at Hematology, University of Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ciolli
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Leoni
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Caporale
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carbone
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Francia di Celle
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Foà
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Ferrini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015326:Gene Rearrangement, B-Lymphocyte, Heavy Chain; D015329:Gene Rearrangement, T-Lymphocyte; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D007938:Leukemia / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D051562:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcr; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D016692:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; C496613:BCR protein, human; D051562:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcr