[Clinico-immunological characteristics of lymphoid tumors in children]

The clinical and immunological characteristics of lymphoid tumors were compared in 591 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Comprehensive investigation of a tumor cell by using cytological, morphological, and immunological studies revealed the most significant criteria for differential diagnosis of ALL and NHL in children and showed the specific features of the site of a tumor and the extent of its growth in ALL and NHL in relation to the immunological affiliation of a tumor cell. The predominance of immature forms, such as stem-cell CD34+, pre-pre-B, pre-B and less commonly T-cell forms with almost none peripheral B- and T-cell markers could be immunophenotypically detected in ALL. NHL was, on the contrary, characterized by the prevalence of mature immunological subtypes with peripheral B- and T-cell markers and much less frequently pre-B and pre-T cells and at the same time there was no CD34 antigen in the tumor cells. Anaplastic giant lymphoma was a peculiar type of NHL characterized by the presence of large cells having marked anaplasia and expression on the surface of CD30 antigen. A comprehensive study of lymphoid tumors in children showed that immunophenotyping was of great value, whose results were associated with the specific feature of tumor growth and prognosis, which should be borne in mind while planning antitumor therapy programmes.