Background: Identification of prognostic factors in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients is important for stratifying patients into risk groups and tailoring treatment accordingly. Molecular and cytogenetic abnormalities are the most important prognostic factors. Minimal residual disease (MRD) is also an important predictor of relapse in ALL. However, the correlation of both prognostic variables has not been thoroughly studied.
Methods: We investigated the correlation between defined cytogenetic abnormalities and selected new MRD markers (CD79b, CD123, and CD200) in 56 newly diagnosed Egyptian pediatric B-cell ALL patients.
Results: CD123 found to be expressed in 45% of patients, CD200 in 80.3%, and CD79b in 67.9%. MRD analysis during treatment showed stable expression patterns of CD200. There was significant association of CD123 expression with the hyperdiploid ALL group (P = .017). Another association (P = .029) was found between CD79b negativity and the t(12;21) group. CD200 was widely expressed in all groups.
Conclusion: There is a significant correlation between some markers, and certain ALL recurrent cytogenetic subgroups (CD123 and hyperdiploidy, CD79b negativity, and ETV-RUNX1 group) have good prognostic value. CD200 can be used as MRD markers in ALL patients and can also can serve as therapy targets.
Keywords: ALL; CD123; CD200; CD79b; Hyperdiploidy; MRD.
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