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Flow cytometric analysis of de novo acute lymphoblastic leukemia in childhood: report from the Japanese Pediatric Leukemia/Lymphoma Study Group

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Abstract

Although the antigen expression patterns of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are well known, little attention has been given to standardizing the diagnostic and classification criteria. We retrospectively analyzed the flow cytometric data from a large study of antigen expression in 1,774 children with newly diagnosed ALL in JPLSG. T- and B-lineage ALL accounted for 13 and 87% of childhood ALL cases, respectively. Cytoplasmic CD3 and CD7 antigens were positive in all T-ALL cases. More than 80% of T-ALL cases expressed CD2, CD5 and TdT. In B-lineage ALL, the frequencies of early pre-B, pre-B, transitional pre-B and B-ALL were 81, 15.5, 0.6 and 2.9%, respectively. More than 90% of early pre-B ALL cases expressed CD19, CD79a, CD22, CD10 and TdT. CD34 was expressed in three-fourths of early pre-B ALL cases. The frequencies of TdT and CD34 expression were lower in pre-B ALL than in early pre-B ALL. B-ALL showed less frequent expression of CD22, CD10, CD34 and TdT than other B-lineage ALL cases. Expression of CD13 and CD33, aberrant myeloid antigens, was significantly more frequently associated with B-lineage ALL than with T-ALL. Based on this retrospective study of antigen expression in 1,774 de novo childhood ALL cases in JPLSG, we propose standardized clinical guidelines for the immunophenotypic criteria for diagnosis and classification of pediatric ALL.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the committee members of the JPLSG for sending bone marrow and peripheral blood samples. This study was supported by a grant for Clinical Cancer Research from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare of Japan. We thank Dr. K. Nakahara, Ms. E. Ogawa and Mr. W. Hashimoto for their insightful and helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics and Developmental Science, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-174 Edobashi, Tsu, Mie, 514-8507, Japan

    Shotaro Iwamoto, Takao Deguchi, Hiroki Hori & Yoshihiro Komada

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Osaka, Japan

    Hideaki Ohta

  3. Department of Developmental Biology, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Nobutaka Kiyokawa & Junichiro Fujimoto

  4. Department of Pediatrics, Aichi Medical University, Nagakute, Aichi, Japan

    Masahito Tsurusawa & Tomomi Yamada

  5. Division of Research Development, Department of Health Science Policies, Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Kozo Takase

  6. Division of Hematology/Oncology, Saitama Children’s Medical Center, Saitama, Saitama, Japan

    Ryoji Hanada

  7. Clinical Research Center, National Hospital Organization Nagoya Medical Center, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

    Keizo Horibe

Authors
  1. Shotaro Iwamoto
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  2. Takao Deguchi
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  3. Hideaki Ohta
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  7. Kozo Takase
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  8. Junichiro Fujimoto
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  9. Ryoji Hanada
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  12. Yoshihiro Komada
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shotaro Iwamoto.

Additional information

For the Immunological Diagnosis Committee of the Japanese Pediatric Leukemia/Lymphoma Study Group.

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Iwamoto, S., Deguchi, T., Ohta, H. et al. Flow cytometric analysis of de novo acute lymphoblastic leukemia in childhood: report from the Japanese Pediatric Leukemia/Lymphoma Study Group. Int J Hematol 94, 185–192 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12185-011-0900-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12185-011-0900-1

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