Lymphoid markers predict prognosis of pediatric and adolescent acute myeloid leukemia

Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is a complex and highly aggressive disease. To characterize the prognostic factors of pediatric patients with AML relapse, a retrospective cohort study was performed to collect data from children and adolescents, at a hematological oncology reference center, over 11 years. We selected 51 cases of the disease, diagnosed and treated uniformly, divided into two groups: with complete remission (n = 33; 65 %) and with relapse (n = 18; 35 %). The groups were homogeneous concerning demographic characteristics and hematological parameters at diagnosis. AML M3 was the most common subtype (n = 19; 37 %) and was associated with a good prognosis. The highest rate of relapse was with AML M0 (n = 3 of 5 patients; 60 %). The most predominant gene mutation, FLT3-ITD, did not influence the prognosis in our study. The complete remission group presented a higher mean frequency of positive cells for the granulocytic marker CD13a at diagnosis. In cases with AML relapse, CD36, CD4, CD7, and CD22 were the most expressed markers. Increase incidence of recurrence was associated with CD7 (HR 1.035; p = 0.003), CD4 (HR 1.032, p = 0.001) and CD22 (HR 1.042; p = 0.049). Our results highlight the importance of analyzing immunophenotypic markers to help predict the outcome of AML in children and adolescents.