Complex karyotypes in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: cytogenetic and molecular cytogenetic study of 21 cases

Cytogenetic and molecular cytogenetic analysis of 79 childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemias (ALL) revealed chromosomal abnormalities in 76 (96%). Complex karyotypes (a finding of three and more chromosomal aberrations in a karyotype) were identified in 21 (26.6%) out of 79 patients. In 11 patients, complex karyotypes have included common recurrent chromosomal abnormalities, such as translocation t(12;21) in seven cases, t(9;22) in two cases, one case with t(2;1;19) and another one with translocation involving 11q23. In 10 patients, miscellaneous abnormalities were detected. Five patients displayed hyperdiploidy (47 approximately 57 chromosomes), three patients complex karyotypes with deletions of 9p, one patient with two new complex translocations t(2;4;12;13) and t(7;11;20), and the last patient with dic(12;21). The evaluation of the frequency of the chromosomal breaks (>5 per chromosome) showed that chromosomes 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 12, 13, and 21 were most frequently affected. Survival analysis revealed statistically significant unfavorable event-free survival (EFS) (P=0.013) and decreased overall survival in the group with complex karyotypes (n=21) compared with the other cases (n=58). The evaluation of overexpression profile revealed increased occurrence of double CD13/CD33 positivity in patients with common recurrent chromosomal abnormalities (in 70% of cases); no such cases were registered in the other group (P<0.01).