Lymphoblasts with T-cell markers in five girls with acute lymphocytic leukemia

Abstract

In previous reports, children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), who presented with T-cell markers on their lymphoblasts (T-lymphoblasts), have been predominantly older boys often with a mediastinal mass. These children are thought to constitute a subgroup of childhood ALL that has the poorest prognosis. Here, we report five girls with ALL, who presented with T-lymphoblasts but without a mediastinal mass. All responded well to chemotherapy and three of five are in maintained remission 21-33 months after diagnosis. The fourth patient died while in remission of causes other than leukemia and the fifth relapsed and died of infection two years after diagnosis. These observations suggest that girls with T-lymphoblasts may not have an adverse prognosis.

Childhood non‐Hodgkin malignant lymphomas: A clinicopathologic retrospective study

“…There is no explanation at present for the better survival of females. Similar findings for girls with T-lymphoblastic leukemia have been reported by Hann et a1 [33].…”

Morphology of lymphatic cells and of their derived tumours.

“…The latter is quite often represented by a mediastinal tumour in the thymic region, with the same anatomical features described by Sternberg in 1915. Quite often, however, the leukaemic manifestation develops after the appearance of the ML, usually within six months from onset, with high WBC count, a high incidence of early CNS involvement (Greenberg et al, 1976), and a poor prognosis (Catovsky et al, 1974b;Sen and Borella, 1975;Belpomme et al, 1977), particularly in males (Hann et al, 1977). The distinction between leukaemia and lymphoma, based on the presence of marrow involvement at diagnosis, was not of prognostic significance in one reported series (Coccia et al, 1976).…”

Subset derivation of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia in man.

“…Given the heterogeneity of normal T cells and the clinical heterogeneity of T-cell leukemias (28), it seemed important to test whether T-ALL arises from one or both T-cell subsets. Consequently, cell surface phenotyping was performed on T-ALL tumor populations with subset-specific heteroantisera.…”