Abstract
Hypercalcemia is relatively rare but clinically important complication in childhood leukemic patients. To clarify the clinical characteristics, mechanisms of hypercalcemia, response to management for hypercalcemia, incidence of t(17;19) and final outcome of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) accompanied by hypercalcemia, clinical data of 22 cases of childhood ALL accompanied by hypercalcemia (>12 mg/dl) reported in Japan from 1990 to 2005 were retrospectively analyzed. Eleven patients were 10 years and older. Twenty patients had low white blood cell count (<20 × 109/l), 15 showed hemoglobin⩾8 g/dl and 14 showed platelet count ⩾100 × 109/l. Parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP)-mediated hypercalcemia was confirmed in 11 of the 16 patients in whom elevated-serum level or positive immunohistochemistry of PTHrP was observed. Hypercalcemia and accompanying renal insufficiency resolved quickly, particularly in patients treated with bisphosphonate. t(17;19) or add(19)(p13) was detected in five patients among 17 patients in whom karyotypic data were available, and the presence of E2A-HLF was confirmed in these five patients. All five patients with t(17;19)-ALL relapsed very early. Excluding the t(17;19)-ALL patients, the final outcome of ALL accompanied by hypercalcemia was similar to that of all childhood ALL patients, indicating that the development of hypercalcemia itself is not a poor prognostic factor.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Masahiro Tsuchida (Department of Pediatrics, Ibaraki Children's Hospital, Mito, Japan) for providing the clinical data of TCCSG and Keiko Kagami (Department of Pediatrics, University of Yamanashi, School of Medicine) for technical supports.
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Inukai, T., Hirose, K., Inaba, T. et al. Hypercalcemia in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: frequent implication of parathyroid hormone-related peptide and E2A-HLF from translocation 17;19. Leukemia 21, 288–296 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2404496
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2404496
Keywords
- hypercalcemia
- childhood ALL
- PTHrP
- E2A-HLF
- bisphosphonate
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