Aberrant Phenotype in Acute Myeloid Leukemia: Hematology Laboratory Experiment of the University Hospital of Casablanca, Morocco.

BACKGROUND

Aberrant phenotypes in acute myeloid leukemia have variable frequencies and their prognostic value with adverse hematological and other biological prognostic factors is still controversial, despite several reports of clinical significance. To date, no study has been reported evaluating the incidence of these phenotypic aberrations in the Moroccan population. The aim is to evaluate the incidence of aberrant phenotype expressions in acute myeloid leukemia and correlate their presence with the different AML subtypes, and clinical and biological characteristics in Moroccan patients.

METHODS

Fifty-four AML patients were diagnosed according to WHO classification 2016 criteria. Immunopheno-typing by flow cytometric analysis was performed to evaluate aberrant phenotypes on myeloblasts.

RESULTS

The occurrence of lymphoid antigens in AML was higher (51.8%), which was closer to that reported in the literature. CD7 has been revealed to be the most commonly expressed lymphoid antigen. Besides, CD19 was expressed in all 3.7% of M2 AML subtype. However, we could find no statistically significant differences between these aberrant phenotypes regarding FAB subtypes or clinical and biological outcomes. The great majority of AML cases showed asynchronous expression (57%) with significant differences regarding FAB subtypes.

CONCLUSIONS

Aberrant phenotypes might be associated with different leukemia subtypes that should be studied for a better understanding of their biological significance and adding important information for prognosis and, at the same time, could be of help when looking for minimal residual disease during morphologic remission.