Acute lymphoblastic leukemia with clonal evolution due to delay in chemotherapy: A report of a case

Clonal evolution in acute leukemias is one of the most important factors that leads to therapeutic failure and disease relapse. Delay in therapeutic intervention is one of the reasons that leads toward clonal evolution. In this report, we present a case of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in which therapeutic delay resulted in clonal evolution that was detected by conventional karyotyping and was responsible for non-responsiveness of the disease to conventional chemotherapy. A 17-year-old boy presented with generalized body aches, rapidly progressive pallor and lethargy. Bone marrow analysis was consistent with the diagnosis of B-cell ALL. Karyotypic analysis revealed 46, XY male karyotype. The patient left the hospital due to financial reasons and after 40 days came back to the hospital. Repeated bone marrow analysis including cytogenetic studies revealed presence of three different clones of blast cells: one clone showed 46, XY with del(9p) and t (11;14), second clone showed 46, XY with del(7q) and del(9p), and the third clone showed 46, XY normal karyotype. The patient did not respond to chemotherapy and died within 1 week of induction chemotherapy (HyperCVAD-A). Timely diagnosis and institution of chemotherapy in acute leukemias patients is the key to prevent clonal evolution and thus resistance of the disease to therapeutic interventions.