Abstract
Although most relapses of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) occur 24–36 months after first CR has been achieved, few patients relapse 5 or more years after CR achievement. The assessment of clonality has proved to be useful in determining whether even those very late events represent the reoccurrence of the original clone or alternatively a secondary leukemia. To gain further information on clonal stability in such late relapse, we performed detailed comparative Southern blotting and PCR analyses of TcRδ and TcRγ gene rearrangements in five ALL at presentation and subsequent relapse which occurred more than 5 years after diagnosis. At least one stable rearranged allele of the TcRδ and TcRγ loci was traced in all cases at presentation and clinical relapse despite a wide heterogeneity of the pattern of rearrangements. Our study extends to a larger series of patients previous findings which have sought to analyze the phenomenon of clonal evolution in children relapsed after more than 5 years of CCR. With respect to the potential pitfalls in monitoring minimal residual disease in childhood ALL for the presence of clonal evolution, our results highlight the combination of two target genes (such as TcRγ and TcRδ) as a tool to reduce false negative MRD results.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nigro, L., Cazzaniga, G., Cataldo, A. et al. Clonal stability in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who relapsed five or more years after diagnosis. Leukemia 13, 190–195 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2401269
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2401269
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Childhood secondary ALL after ALL treatment
Leukemia (2007)
-
Clonality profile in relapsed precursor-B-ALL children by GeneScan and sequencing analyses. Consequences on minimal residual disease monitoring
Leukemia (2003)
-
Comparative analysis of T-cell receptor gene rearrangements at diagnosis and relapse of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) shows high stability of clonal markers for monitoring of minimal residual disease and reveals the occurrence of second T-ALL
Leukemia (2003)
-
Immunoglobulin light chain gene rearrangements display hierarchy in absence of selection for functionality in precursor-B-ALL
Leukemia (2002)
-
T cell receptor gamma (TCRG) gene rearrangements in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia reflect ‘end-stage’ recombinations: implications for minimal residual disease monitoring
Leukemia (2000)