Myeloid Antigen Positivity in Turkish Children With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Lacks Influence on Prognosis

Abstract

<br/><b>Introduction</b>: Several studies have suggested that the presence of myeloid antigens is a poor prognostic factorin patients with acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL). <br/><b>Objective</b>: We aimed to assess this possibility in Turkish patients.Materials and <br/><b>Methods</b>: Seventy-three children with a diagnosis of ALL-L1 and 38 with ALL-L2 were included.Flow cytometry and fluorescein-isothiocynate conjugated antibodies were used to determined surface antigens onblasts. <br/><b>Results</b>: Myeloid antigens were positive in 48.4% with ALL-L1 and 60.5% with ALL-L2, the differencenot being significant. Overall survival rates of myeloid antigen positive patients at 36, 60, and 72 months were76%, 58%, and 48%, respectively, comparable to the corresponding 70%, 56%, and 46% in myeloid antigennegative patients (p >0.05). <br/><b>Conclusion</b>: We did not find any association between myeloid antigen positivity andclinical and laboratory features of ALL.