title: Advances in the immunological monitoring of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
abstract: In children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), measurements of minimal residual disease (MRD) during therapy provide crucial information about the response to treatment and the risk of relapse. Flow cytometry is a practical and widely applicable tool for monitoring MRD in patients with ALL. This approach is based on the identification of immunophenotypes expressed by leukaemic cells but not by normal lympho-haematopoietic cells in bone marrow and peripheral blood. These phenotypes can identify one leukaemic cell among 10 000 normal cells and are currently applicable to at least 90% of patients with ALL. A strong correlation between flow cytometric measurements of MRD during clinical remission and treatment outcome has been demonstrated, suggesting that these assays should be incorporated into treatment protocols.
authors: Departments of Hematology-Oncology and Pathology, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, 332 North Lauderdale, Memphis, TN 38105, USA.
authors: Dario
authors: D
authors: Campana
authors: Elaine
authors: E
authors: Coustan-Smith
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D018365:Neoplasm, Residual / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D011379:Prognosis