Association of cytogenetic abnormalities with detection of BCR‐ABL fusion transcripts in children with T‐lineage lymphoproliferative diseases (T‐ALL and T‐NHL)

Detection of Philadelphia chromosome (Ph) in childhood T‐lineage acute lymphoproliferative disorders is a rare event. Additional cytogenetic abnormalities are particularly uncommon in ALL. We here report two cases with T lineage acute lymphoproliferative disorders (T‐ALL and T‐NHL) presenting with both cytogenetic alterations and BCR‐ABL fusion transcripts, associated with an aggressive presentation and a poor outcome. We point out firstly on the cytogenetic aberrations, supporting the hypothesis of multi‐lineage involvement of ALL expressing Ph chromosome; secondly, on the persistence of T‐cell leukemic clone detected by minimal residual disease (MRD) analysis, despite of the early disappearance of BCR‐ABL fusion transcript. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.