PH POSITIVE ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC-LEUKEMIA IN ADULTS - MOLECULAR AND CLINICAL-STUDIES

Fifty-six patients with ALL were investigated for bcr involvement by P CR. Breakpoints were found in 15 patients (26.8%). There were no diffe rences in clinical and hematologic features or the percentages of comp lete response (CR) between the Ph+ and Ph- cases. The duration of CR w as 6 and 8 months, respectively. In 7/9 Ph1 relapsed ALL we observed i ncreased expression of myeloid markers and 2/9 showed a switch of cyto type (Ly --> My). In none of the 13 Ph- relapsed ALL patients did we o bserve these findings. 7/15 of Ph+ cases expressed P190 and mRNA ela2 and 8/15 patients showed P210, with mRNA b3a2 in 5 and b2a2 in 3, resp ectively. The percentage of CR was 57% in the P190+ and 87% in the P21 0+ group. Investigation of more Ph1+ ALL cases treated with a uniform protocol should be performed in the future in order to determine wheth er any such biological and clinical differences exist.