title: AIEOP-BFM consensus guidelines 2016 for flow cytometric immunophenotyping of Pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
abstract: Immunophenotyping by flow cytometry (FCM) is a worldwide mainstay in leukemia diagnostics. For concordant multicentric application, however, a gap exists between available classification systems, technologic standardization, and clinical needs. The AIEOP-BFM consortium induced an extensive standardization and validation effort between its nine national reference laboratories collaborating in immunophenotyping of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). We elaborated common guidelines which take advantage of the possibilities of multi-color FCM: marker panel requirements, immunological blast gating, in-sample controls, tri-partite antigen expression rating (negative vs. weak or strong positive) with capturing of blast cell heterogeneities and subclone formation, refined ALL subclassification, and a dominant lineage assignment algorithm able to distinguish "simple" from bilineal/"complex" mixed phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL) cases, which is essential for choice of treatment. These guidelines are a first step toward necessary inter-laboratory standardization of pediatric leukemia immunophenotyping for a concordant multicentric application. © 2017 International Clinical Cytometry Society.
authors.affiliation: Children's Cancer Research Institute and St. Anna Children's Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Michael N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Dworzak
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Pediatric Onco-Hematology, Women and Child Department, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Buldini
authors.affiliation: Tettamanti Research Center and Department of Pediatrics, Ospedale San Gerardo, University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gaipa
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Oncology and Tumor Immunology, HELIOS Klinikum Berlin-Buch, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ratei
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and University Hospital Motol, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Ondrej
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hrusak
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Schneider's Children's Medical Center, Petach-Tikva, Israel.
authors.forename: Drorit
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Luria
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research Center and the Hematology Laboratory, Jeffrey Modell Foundation (JMF) Center, Edmond and Lily Safra Children's Hospital, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel.
authors.forename: Eti
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rosenthal
authors.affiliation: Division of Oncology and Children's Research Center, University Children's Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Bourquin
authors.affiliation: Flow Cytometry Unit, Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sartor
authors.affiliation: Children's Cancer Research Institute and St. Anna Children's Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schumich
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Oncology/Hematology, Charité Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Leonid
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Karawajew
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and University Hospital Motol, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Ester
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mejstrikova
authors.affiliation: Tettamanti Research Center and Department of Pediatrics, Ospedale San Gerardo, University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Italy.
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Maglia
authors.affiliation: Children's Cancer Research Institute and St. Anna Children's Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Oncology and Tumor Immunology, HELIOS Klinikum Berlin-Buch, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Wolf-Dieter
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Ludwig
authors.affiliation: Tettamanti Research Center and Department of Pediatrics, Ospedale San Gerardo, University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Biondi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schrappe
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Pediatric Onco-Hematology, Women and Child Department, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Basso
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D002648:Child; D032921:Consensus; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping / Q000592:standards*; D010641:Phenotype; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000175:diagnosis*
keywords: flow cytometry; immunophenotyping:; leukemia; pediatric; standardization