Pediatric leukemia/lymphoma with t(8;14)(q24;q11)

A variety of chromosomal translocations occur in pediatric T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) in which a cellular oncogene or growth-related gene is translocated to the alpha/delta locus of the T-cell receptor gene. The t(8;14)(q24;q11) has been described at the cytogenetic and molecular level, but the disease associated with this translocation has not been defined clinically. Fifteen pediatric cases of leukemia/lymphoma with a t(8;14)(q24;q11) chromosomal translocation were collected from previous publications and institutional records. The estimated prevalence of this abnormality among all cases of ALL was 1%. The t(8;14)(q24;q11) disease was characterized by male predominance (10/15), a median age of 5.5 years (range 1.8-17 years), high white blood cell count (median 95 x 10(9)/l), central nervous system infiltration (4/11), bulky extramedullary leukemia (10/11), and T-cell immunophenotype (12/15). The median event-free survival was 4 months, and the median survival, 11 months. Seven cell lines with t(8;14)(q24;q11) were established from six of the cases; four were T-lymphoblastic, one was T-lymphoblastic, but expressed myeloid-related antigens, and two were predominantly myeloid. t(8;14)(q24;q11) leukemia/lymphoma and other ALLs involving 13(q11) have in common a high tumor burden, early spread to extramedullary sites, a propensity to form T-lymphoblastic or T-myeloid cell lines and, usually, an aggressive clinical course.