Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

Immunophenotypic modulation in childhood precursor-B-ALL can be mimicked in vitro and is related to the induction of cell death

Leukemia volume 19, pages 1845–1847 (2005)Cite this article

TO THE EDITOR

This letter is addressed at the paper by Gaipa et al,1 published in Leukemia (January 2005, Vol 19, No. 1), in which drug-induced immunophenotypic modulation in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) was described. Such immunophenotypic modulations may have implications for minimal residual disease (MRD) detection, which has been shown to have prognostic significance in ALL and can be used to identify patients with a low, intermediate or high risk of relapse.2 In most current treatment protocols, patients are stratified based on MRD levels measured by real-time quantitative PCR analysis of immunoglobulin and/or T-cell receptor rearrangements,3 but MRD can also be analyzed by multiparameter flow cytometry based on the occurrence of leukemia-associated immunophenotypes (LAIPs). For flow cytometric MRD analysis, which is faster and cheaper than the molecular MRD methods, the LAIP should be sufficiently specific (in order to prevent false-positive results) and stable (in order to prevent false-negative results).

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2

References

  1. Gaipa G, Basso G, Maglia O, Leoni V, Cazzaniga G, Bugarin C et al. Drug-induced immunophenotypic modulation in childhood ALL: implications for minimal residual disease detection. Leukemia 2005; 19: 49–56.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Willemse MJ, Seriu T, Hettinger K, d'Aniello E, Hop WC, Panzer-Grumayer ER et al. Detection of minimal residual disease identifies differences in treatment response between T-ALL and precursor B-ALL. Blood 2002; 99: 4386–4393.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. van der Velden VH, Hochhaus A, Cazzaniga G, Szczepanski T, Gabert J, van Dongen JJ . Detection of minimal residual disease in hematologic malignancies by real-time quantitative PCR: principles, approaches, and laboratory aspects. Leukemia 2003; 17: 1013–1034.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Pieters R, Loonen AH, Huismans DR, Broekema GJ, Dirven MJW, Heyenbrok MW et al. In vitro drug sensitivity of cells from children with leukemia using the MTT assay with improved culture conditions. Blood 1990; 76: 2327–2336.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Diaz D, Prieto A, Barcenilla H, Monserrat J, Prieto P, Sánchez MA et al. Loss of lineage antigens is a common feature of apoptotic lymphocytes. J Leukoc Biol 2004; 76: 609–615.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dutch Childhood Oncology Group, The Hague, The Netherlands

    A J van der Sluijs-Gelling, E T J M Roeffen, A J P Veerman & E R van Wering

  2. Department of Immunology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    V H J van der Velden

  3. Department of Paediatric Hemato-Oncology, Vrije Universiteit, University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    A J P Veerman

Authors
  1. A J van der Sluijs-Gelling
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. V H J van der Velden
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. E T J M Roeffen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. A J P Veerman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. E R van Wering
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to E R van Wering.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

van der Sluijs-Gelling, A., van der Velden, V., Roeffen, E. et al. Immunophenotypic modulation in childhood precursor-B-ALL can be mimicked in vitro and is related to the induction of cell death. Leukemia 19, 1845–1847 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2403911

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2403911

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links