Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics of acute myeloid leukemia patients with 3q abnormalities.
Methods: Conventional cytogenetic analysis of R-banding was used to detect the abnormalities of 3q in 657 patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
Result: Twenty-four (3.7%) out of 657 patients had abnormalities of 3q, of which 3q21 or 3q26 were involved in 18 cases (75.0%); 3q21q26 abnormalities were harbored in 11 patients (45.8%), including 9 of t (3;3) and 2 cases of inv (3), of which 3 cases progressed from MDS. Ten patients presented with normal or elevated platelets and their bone marrow morphologies showed abnormal and striking proliferation of megakaryocytes. While in other 7 patients with 3q21 or 3q26, no one presented with high platelets and megakaryocytes. All 24 patients with 3q abnormalities received chemotherapies and only 4 patients achieved short-term remission with a median survival time of 6.7 months.
Conclusion: 3q21q26 anomaly is the most common karyotype in acute myeloid patients with 3q abnormalities. The patients with 3q anomaly had extremely poorer treatment outcome and prognosis.