title: [Expression of CD20 in B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia and its correlation with clinical outcomes].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether expression of CD20 is associated with clinical outcomes of childhood B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL).
  
  
  METHODS
  271 newly diagnosed childhood BCP-ALL during January 2009 to May 2013 were enrolled in this study. The patients were treated in line with the Chinese Childhood Leukemia Group ALL 2008 protocol (CCLG-ALL 2008). The clinical feature, early therapeutic response and clinical outcomes of the patients with a CD20 positive (CD20+ BCP) expression were compared with those with a CD20 negative (CD20- BCP) expression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CD20- BCP accounted for 45.76% (124 cases) of all participants. There were no significant differences between CD20- BCP and CD20- BCP patients in gender distribution, age, WBC counts when diagnosis was made, proportion of prednisone poor responders, and distribution of risk categories (P > 0.05). Patients of 10 years or older comprised 25.81% and 14.29% of CD20+ BCP and CD20- BCP patients, respectively (P = 0.017). Pro-B and pre-B cases accounted for 43.55% and 59.86% of CD20- BCP patients respectively, compared with 56.45 and 40.14% in CD20- BCP patients (P = 0.007). CD20+ BCP patients had 12.20% Philadelphia positive ALL and 6.50% BCP-ALL with TEL-AML1 fusion gene, compared with 4.86% (P = 0.03) and 18.06% (P = 0.005) in those of CD20 BCP. No significant differences were found between the two groups of patients in 15-day (77.50% vs. 74.13%, P = 0.525) and 33-day (95.04% vs. 95.83%, P = 0.757) complete remission rates. No significant differences (P > 0.05) were found in predicted 4-year event-free survival CEFS (78.00% +/- 4.96%) vs. (79.05% +/- 5.40%)) and predicted 4-year overall survival (OS (83.01% +/- 6.13%) vs. (93.64% +/- 2.46%)) between the two groups of patients either.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CD20 positivity was not found to be associated with worse prognosis of children with BCP-ALL. More studies are needed to validate the correlation between CD20 and unfavorable outcomes in BCP-ALL.
authors.forename: Xiao-Xi
authors.initials: XX
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Li-Xing
authors.initials: LX
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Ge
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Chao-Min
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Wan-Ying
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Huo
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ai
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Yi-Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Ju
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D018951:Antigens, CD20 / Q000378:metabolism*; D002648:Child; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D006801:Humans; D015452:Precursor B-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism*; D011379:Prognosis; D012074:Remission Induction
chemical_list: D018951:Antigens, CD20