Correlations between acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL) immunophenotype and clinical and laboratory data at presentation....

The phenotypes of malignant cells from 350 untreated patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) were determined at diagnosis with the use of a panel of monoclonal antibodies to leukocyte antigens. According to the phenotypes seen, the cases were divided into five groups, pre-B ALL, B-ALL, T-ALL, MO-ALL, and undifferentiated ALL. Each group was subdivided, resulting in 11 defined immunologic subtypes. Correlations between clinical and laboratory features were investigated at presentation. ALL of early-B phenotype associated with elevated cell counts occurred more often in female and infant patients than in male patients. Involvement of the central nervous system was frequent in B-ALL, which occurred mostly in male patients. A male prevalence was also seen in ALL of T-lineage in which significant differences regarding clinical characteristics and leukocyte counts appeared among the four subtypes. The clinical relevance of phenotypic subcategorization is supported by our observations.