Acute lymphoblastic leukemia associated with a t(1;19)(q23;p13) in an adult

A cytogenetic study of a 38-year-old patient with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) revealed a t(1;19)(q23;p13), which is a characteristic translocation of childhood ALL. The leukemic cells were positive for the CD10, CD19, HLA-DR, TdT and cytoplasmic mu-chain. Both of the immunoglobulin heavy chain gene loci were rearranged and the RNA-based polymerase chain reaction demonstrated the E2A/PBX1 fusion transcript which is the result of the t(1;19). This finding suggests that the t(1;19) is implicated not only in childhood ALL but also in adult ALL patients.