Immunophenotypic subsets in acute lymphoblastic leukemia from a single centre in North India: correlation with outcome to induction chemotherapy

Abstract

The poorer outcome of Indian patients with acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL) has been observed in earlier studies. However, little data is available on their immunophenotypic characteristics. The aim of the present study was thus to characterize the immunophenotypic subsets of Indian ALL patients and correlate with outcome at the end of induction chemotherapy. Immunophenotyping of 45 childhood and 25 adult ALL patients was performed by dual colour flow cytometry using a panel of B-lineage, T-lineage and Myeloid lineage specific monoclonal antibodies. Eighty and 17% of childhood and 92% and none of adults were B-lineage and T-lineage ALL, respectively. Aberrant myeloid marker expression was seen in 11% and 28% of childhood and adult groups, respectively. B-lineage ALL with aberrant T-lineage marker expression was observed in 4.4% and 8% of childhood and adult groups, respectively. Two each induction failures were observed in both childhood and adult groups. All of these were associated with aberrant expression of myeloid and/or T-lineage markers on B-lineage ALL. Aberrant expression of markers was associated with poorer outcome to induction chemotherapy in both childhood and adult ALL patients.