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Long‐term cytogenetic studies in acute leukemia of children; The nature of relapse
Author(s) -
Zuelzer W. W.,
Inoue Susumu,
Thompson Ruby I.,
Ottenbreit Mark J.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
american journal of hematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.456
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1096-8652
pISSN - 0361-8609
DOI - 10.1002/ajh.2830010202
Subject(s) - clone (java method) , karyotype , somatic evolution in cancer , ploidy , biology , leukemia , disease , population , immunology , bone marrow , cytogenetics , oncology , aneuploidy , cancer , medicine , genetics , chromosome , gene , environmental health
Sequential long‐term cytogentic studies in 71 children with acute leukemia were designed to investigate the nature of relapse after prolonged remission. In the overwhelming majority of the cases the findings suggested clonal identity of the leukemic cell population in relapse with that studied at the onset of the disease, notwithstanding considerable karyotypic instability in almost half of the patients. In a small minority an independent origin of the relapse clone could not be excluded on cytogenetic grounds but was considered unlikely, since mechanisms capable of accounting for the changes observed in these patients could be demonstrated in other cases. The persistence of diploid leukemic cells in the presence of an aneuploid subclone was demonstrated in the relapse bone marrow and/or spinal fluid in all active phases of the disease. On this basis the conversion from an aneuploid to a predominantly or exclusively diploid karyotype could be visualized, and a new model of clonal evolution, involving repetitive formation of abnormal karyotypes from a surviving diploid clone could be suggested.