title: The existence of lymphoid lineage restricted Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia with heterogeneous bcr-abl rearrangement.
abstract: Analysis of lineage involvement was performed in 17 Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients with no history of chronic myeloproliferative disorder. The percentage of blastic cells as defined by flow cytometry matched that of the Ph-positive cells in 14 out of 17 patients. The bcr-abl rearrangement was investigated by fluorescent in situ hybridization in morphologically identified blastic cells, myeloid elements, lymphocytes and erythroblasts using a combined light and fluorescent microscopical imaging. Lymphoid lineage restriction could be determined in all but three of the patients. These 14 patients exhibited heterogeneity in terms of m-bcr and M-bcr types of translocation as revealed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The three patients with multilineage involvement and M-bcr type of translocation reverted to chronic phase and the percentage of Ph-positive cells remained high. Thus, we could identify an uncommitted stem cell origin among Ph-positive ALLs only in those patients whose disease subsequently proved to be a lymphoid blastic crisis with clinically silent chronic phase.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University Medical School of Pécs, Hungary.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pajor
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Vass
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kereskai
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kajtár
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Szomor
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Egyed
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Iványi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jáksó
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001483:Base Sequence; D019070:Cell Lineage; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017931:DNA Primers; D005260:Female; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl / Q000235:genetics*; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010677:Philadelphia Chromosome; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl