CLONAL REMISSION IN CHILDHOOD ACUTE MYELOID-LEUKEMIA IS AN INFREQUENTEVENT

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous group of diseases that differ in pattern of both remission and lineage involvement. The obse rvation that hematopoiesis remains clonal in some patients with AML in complete clinical remission suggests that the acute phase may develop from a clinically unrecognized preleukemic clone. To investigate the characteristics and significance of clonal remissions in childhood AML , we used X-chromosome-linked polymorphisms to study granulocytes obta ined from pediatric female patients in complete clinical remission. Re mission granulocytes from only one of 17 evaluable patients were clona lly derived, suggesting that clonal remission is an infrequent event i n childhood AML.