Frequency and type of chromosomal abnormalities in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients in Kuwait: a six-year retrospective study.

OBJECTIVE

To characterize the frequency of genetic profiles in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients in Kuwait.

SUBJECTS AND

METHODS

This review presents the general cytogenetic characteristics of 164 pediatric patients diagnosed as having ALL in a 6-year period. Chromosomal and fluorescence in situ hybridization studies were made on bone marrow aspirates at diagnosis and during different stages of the disease.

RESULTS

Recurring aberrations, observed in 123 (75%) patients, included hyperdiploidy (n=68, 41%), tetraploidy (n=12, 7.3%), hypodiploidy (n=2, 1.2%), TEL-AML1 fusion (n=11, 7%), mixed-lineage leukemia rearrangement (n=6, 3.6%), t(9;22) (n=4, 2.4%), t(1;19) (n=3, 1.8%), t(8;14) or t(8;22) (n=2, 1.2%), +21 (n=2, 1.2%), del(6) (n=2, 1.2%) and miscellaneous abnormalities (n=9, 5%). The highest observed numerical chromosome abnormality was high hyperdiploidy in 89 patients (54%) with abnormal karyotype while the TEL-AML fusion was the highest observed structural abnormality.

CONCLUSION

This study showed that clonal anomalies detected in pediatric ALL have shown correlations between specific abnormalities and clinicobiological characteristics of the patients.