Clinicopathologic features of histiocytic lesions following ALL, with a review of the literature.
We describe the clinicopathologic features of 15 patients who had histiocytic lesions that followed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Twenty-one separate histiocytic lesions were evaluated that covered a wide spectrum, some conforming to the usual categories of juvenile xanthogranulomas (5), Langerhans' cell histiocytosis (1), Langerhans' cell sarcoma (4), Rosai-Dorfman disease (1), and histiocytic sarcoma (4). Most were atypical for the category by histology, phenotype, or abnormally high turnover rate. Seven low-grade lesions defied easy categorization and were characterized only as "atypical histiocytic lesion" following ALL. For those evaluated, the molecular signature of the prior leukemia was present in the histiocytic lesion. In 3 of 15 patients, the leukemia and histiocytic lesion shared immunoglobulin H or monoclonal TCR gene rearrangements and, in 4 of 15 patients, clonal identity was documented by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Four patients died of progressive disease, 3 of whom had histiocytic sarcoma and 1 who had an atypical lesion. One patient died of recurrent ALL. The other 10 patients are alive, 7 after recurrences and treatment with surgery and/or chemotherapy. The post-ALL lesions are more aggressive than their native counterparts, but despite the demonstration of the presence of the leukemia signature in 7 of 15 patients, the prognosis is generally favorable, except for patients with histiocytic sarcoma. It remains unclear whether the histiocytic lesions arise as a line from the original ALL or whether transdifferentiation is involved.
Castro
Eumenia C C
EC
Department of Pathology, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Blazquez
Cristina
C
Boyd
Jaime
J
Correa
Hernán
H
de Chadarevian
J-P
JP
Felgar
Raymond E
RE
Graf
Nicole
N
Levy
Norman
N
Lowe
Eric J
EJ
Manning
John T
JT
Proytcheva
Maria A
MA
Senger
Christof
C
Shayan
Katayoon
K
Sterba
Jaroslav
J
Werner
Alice
A
Surti
Urvashi
U
Jaffe
Ronald
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D015322:Gene Rearrangement, B-Lymphocyte / Q000235:genetics; D015333:Gene Rearrangement, beta-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor / Q000235:genetics; D006644:Histiocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D015614:Histiocytosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000235:genetics; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008297:Male; D009378:Neoplasms, Multiple Primary / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains