Further heterogeneity of childhood common acute lymphoblastic leukemia

In an attempt to look further at the problem of heterogeneity, we have studied the immunoglobulin (Ig) gene organization in leukemic cells from 20 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (common ALL). Nineteen cases were divided into two subgroups: 12 cases with rearrangement of the Ig heavy (H) chain genes and 7 cases with rearrangement of both the Ig H and light (L) chain genes. No Ig gene rearrangement was found in one case. These findings indicate that there is more heterogeneity among patients with common ALL than has previously been believed.