[Acute nonlymphoblastic leukemias in children and adults]

Examinations of 174 children and 188 adult patients with acute nonlymphoblastic leukemia (ANLL) demonstrated a similar structure of distribution of ANLL FAB-variants in children and adults, although the incidence of M0 and M4 blasts was somewhat higher in infants aged under 2. In patients under 15 and over 60 peroxidase activity in myeloblasts was reliably lower than in the rest patients. HLA-Dr, Thy-1, CD11a, T-CD19, Gly-A, and Eb antigens were equally incident in the cells of children and adults. The expression of CD11b, CD38, and CD10 antigens on the blasts was higher in children than in adults. An abnormal blast karyotype was detected in 81.8% children and 73.7% adults. Translocation (8;21) was observed in patients with the M2 variant, as a rule (82%), and reliably more frequently in children; t(9;22) and t(11q23) occurred in children somewhat more frequently than in adults. A group of children with primary ANLL (n = 3) was distinguished for the first time, in whose cell karyotype a deletion of chromosome 5 was found. The findings indicate that the biological characteristics of blast cells differ in children and adults. Evidently, the level of hemopoiesis involvement in ANLL is earlier in infants under 2 and subjects over 60 than in the rest patients.