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The presence of somatic mutations in immunoglobulin genes of B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL-L3) supports assignment as Burkitt's leukemia–lymphoma rather than B-lineage ALL

Leukemia volume 15, pages 1141–1143 (2001)Cite this article

Surface immunoglobulin (Ig)-positive B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) comprises 2–3% of pediatric ALL. All other B-lineage ALL are precursor-B-ALL without surface Ig expression but positive for the nuclear enzyme terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT), which is regarded to be an immature lymphoid marker.

B-ALL is defined by bone marrow (BM) infiltration of >25% blasts with FAB-L3 morphology and/or ALL with surface expression of Ig heavy and light chains. In the majority of patients (70%) there is evidence for extramedullary tumor mass. When the patients have less than 25% blasts with FAB-L3 morphology in their BM, the diagnosis of stage IV Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) is made. Immunophenotypically, the lymphoblasts of both disease categories are characterized by expression of monotypic surface Ig, B cell markers (CD19, CD20, CD21 and CD22), and CD10, but lack of TdT expression.1

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Prof Dr R Benner for his continuous support. We thank the Dutch Childhood Leukemia Study Group (DCLSG) for kindly providing B-ALL cell samples. Board members of the DCLSG are WA Kamps, H van den Berg, JPM Bökkerink, ESJM de Bont, B Granzen, PM Hoogerbrugge, R Pieters, JA Rammeloo, T Révèsz, AJP Veerman and M van Weel-Sipman.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Immunology, Erasmus University Rotterdam/University Hospital, Rotterdam, Rotterdam

    M van der Burg, BH Barendregt, AW Langerak, T Szczepański & JJM van Dongen

  2. Dutch Childhood Leukemia Study Group, The Hague, The Netherlands

    ER van Wering

  3. Dept of Pediatric Hematology and Chemotherapy, Silesian Medical Academy, Zabrze, Poland

    T Szczepański

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  1. M van der Burg
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  2. BH Barendregt
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van der Burg, M., Barendregt, B., van Wering, E. et al. The presence of somatic mutations in immunoglobulin genes of B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL-L3) supports assignment as Burkitt's leukemia–lymphoma rather than B-lineage ALL. Leukemia 15, 1141–1143 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2402152

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