DETECTION OF DOUBLE MINUTE CHROMOSOMES IN A CHILD WITH ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC-LEUKEMIA

A child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) whose predominant leuk emic clone demonstrated double minute chromosomes (dmin) is presented. The patient had no history of mutagen or carcinogen exposure and resp onded well to combination chemotherapy. Although dmin have been descri bed in acute myelogenous leukemia and various solid turners in adults, their presence in childhood neoplasms is less frequent and limited pr imarily to neurogenic tumors. This is the first documentation of dmin in childhood ALL, suggesting that there may be an unrecognized subgrou p of ALL patients with gene amplification. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 1998.