EXCESS OF MILD ERRORS OF MORPHOGENESIS IN CHILDHOOD LYMPHOBLASTIC-LEUKEMIA

The prevalence of 55 well-defined mild errors of morphogenesis (MEMs) was determined in 100 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) , their 80 sibs, 91 mothers, and 76 fathers, Seventy-four patients wer e treated in Pecs (Hungary) and 26 in Tubingen (Germany). Only white C aucasian index cases were included in the study. Two-hundred children examined for acute infections served as controls. In addition, we anal yzed the family history for birth defects and malignancies, associated major malformations, birth weight, birth order, and pretreatment heig ht of the patients, The results of the Pecs and Tubingen patients were at first evaluated separately but since no differences were found onl y the cumulative data were analyzed further, A significantly increased prevalence of MEMs was found in the ALL patients and their sibs of bo th sexes: their MEM/subject ratios were 1.59 and 1.51, respectively, w hereas the same parameter was 0.74 in the mothers, 0.67 in the fathers and 0.69 in the controls. The same tendency was observed when familia l cases and/or age-dependent MEMs were excluded and when malformation- type and variant-type MEMs were evaluated separately, No association o f ALL with specific MEMs or combinations was recorded. Family history, associated major malformations, parity and birth weight of the patien ts did not differ significantly from the local reference values, where as the pretreatment height of the male probands proved to be greater t han expected, (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.