Despite the fact that the outcome among patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) has improved, the majority of adult patients relapse and die of their disease. Besides age and white cell count at diagnosis, the cytogenetic abnormalities t(9,22)/BCR-ABL and t(4,11) are important prognostic markers and are often included in the treatment stratification of patients with adult ALL. Deletions in 9p are seen in about 9% of cases of adult ALL, but their prognostic impact has been controversial.

Methods: Cytogenetic data from 381 patients diagnosed with B-precursor ALL were reviewed. Chromosomal analysis was successful in 240 cases. Of these cases, 18 (8%) had abnormalities in 9p and they were compared with patients with normal karyotypes and patients with t(9;22)/BCR-ABL.

Results: Patients with abnormalities of chromosome 9 showed significantly shorter overall survival compared with patients with normal karyotypes. In fact, overall survival was similar to that in the poor prognosis t(9;22)/BCR-ABL-positive group.

Conclusions: The data suggest that chromosomal abnormalities involving 9p may have a significant negative impact on survival in adult B-precursor ALL.

Topics:
acute lymphocytic leukemia, b-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia, bcr-abl tyrosine kinase, chromosome abnormality, death, karyotype determination procedure, leukocytes, prognostic marker, chromosome analysis, chromosomes, human, pair 9

Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

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2008, The American Society of Hematology
2008
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