A case of CD45-, CD19-precursor B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia with an atypical morphology

H Moon, J Huh, MS Cho, H Chi… - The Korean Journal of …, 2007 - synapse.koreamed.org
H Moon, J Huh, MS Cho, H Chi, WS Chung
The Korean Journal of Laboratory Medicine, 2007synapse.koreamed.org
The differential diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) from other small round blue
cell tumors in children is very important for proper treatment, but sometimes difficult. CD45 is
expressed on almost all-human leukocytes and not expressed on other small round blue cell
tumors. Moreover, CD19 is expressed on all stages of B lineage cells and loss of this
antigen is very rare in precursor B-cell ALL. We report a case of ALL with atypical
morphology and immunophenotype. A 6-yr-old girl presented with fever and weight loss …
Abstract
The differential diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) from other small round blue cell tumors in children is very important for proper treatment, but sometimes difficult. CD45 is expressed on almost all-human leukocytes and not expressed on other small round blue cell tumors. Moreover, CD19 is expressed on all stages of B lineage cells and loss of this antigen is very rare in precursor B-cell ALL. We report a case of ALL with atypical morphology and immunophenotype. A 6-yr-old girl presented with fever and weight loss. Many abnormal cells with variable sized, high nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio and distinct nucleoli were counted 23% in bone marrow. The results of immuno-phenotyping were negative for CD45, CD19, CD10, CD20, CD3, CD5, CD7, CD56/16, CD13, and CD33 and positive for CD22, TdT, and CD34. The immunohistochemical staining of bone marrow biopsies was positive for CD79a, CD10, TdT and CD99. The cytogenetic study showed normal karyotype but amplification of MLL (myeloid/lymphoid or mixed lineage leukemia) gene was suggestive in the fluorescent in situ hybridization. The patient received the standard chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia and reached complete remission.
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