Minimal screening analysis based algorithm for diagnosis and clinical stratification of patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML): single centre experience.

In this paper we present our results from a study designed in order to establish and standardize a diagnostic algorithm for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in the Republic of Macedonia. A total of 146 consecutive adult patients (>15 years) were enrolled in the study. First, we determined the correct lineage assignment of the blast cells and evaluated the incidence of the favourable PML/RARα, AML1/ETO, CBFß/MYH11 genetic markers among the AML cases. Additionally, the obtained results were correlated with patients' age, comorbidities, and performance status, and each single AML patient was stratified to effective treatment strategy. Our results showed that morphology and cytochemistry established a lineage in 132 (89.1%) of the patients, but not in 16 cases that presented as acute leukaemia, of which 7 were assigned as myeloid, and in two a non-haematopoietic malignancy was indicated with immunophenotyping. Mulitparameter flow cytometry immunophenotyping also changed the assigned lineage based on morphology and cytochemistry in 5 (3.3%) of the patients from lymphoid to myeloid and improved diagnosis in 21 (14.1%) cases. By using a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) essay 28 (23.1%) patients were classified in the prognostically favourable AML genetic group; 8 patients expressed the fusion transcript PML/RARα AML1/ETO and 15 CBFß/MYH11. Moreover, analyses of the age, performance status and comorbidities further strtified an additional 12.5% of the patients to a different risk-adapted therapy. The applied minimal screening-analysis-based diagnostic algorithm enabled improved and more precise diagnosis and clinical stratification in 37.2 % of AML patients from our study group.

A case report of aggressive adult neuroblastoma mimicking acute leukemia with fulminant course and fatal outcome.

A case of aggressive adult neuroblastoma mimicking acute leukemia with fulminant course and fatal outcome is described. Pancytopenia and circulating blasts cells at presentation suggested the diagnosis of acute leukemia in the previously healthy 38 years old Caucasian male patient, but flow-cytometry analysis of the bone marrow disclosed the correct diagnosis of neuroblastoma. The immunophenotype was CD45-/CD56+/CD9+ in around 50% of the mononuclear cells, indicating neuroectodermal origin of the malignant cells. Subsequently, the diagnosis was confirmed by immunohistochemical staining of a bone marrow biopsy. A review of the reported cases of neuroblastoma with leukemic features showed that several of them were misdiagnosed as having leukemia and that the diagnosis of neuroblastoma was made at autopsy examination, indicating that misdiagnosis may happen more often than is appreciated. It is in our opinion that the diagnosis of neuroblastoma should be considered in all cases of acute leukemia and pancytopenia, regardless of the age group of the patients.

Non-Hodgkin's lymphomas: immunologic prognostic studies.

Non-Hodgkin's lymphomas are malignant lymphoproliferative disorders that originate from B or T-lymphocytes and rarely from NK cells. They represent an extremely heterogeneous group of diseases regarding histologic subtypes, clinical presentations, immunophenotypic profiles, cytogenetic and molecular features and suitable mode of treatment. A clinical indicator of prognosis, the International Prognostic Index, takes into account factors that are mostly linked to patient characteristics (age, performance status) and to disease extension and growth (disease stage, s.lactate dehydrogenase level and extent of extranodal involvement). However, it is clear that differences in clinical features and in treatment responses are a result of the marked genetic, immunophenotypic and molecular heterogeneity that underlie disease aggressiveness and tumour progresssion. We applied IPI (based on pretreatment clinical characteristics) in our group of 136 patients that identified a subgroup of clinical features that remained independently significant in multivariate analyses. In our results IPI turned out to be of prognostic significance for response rate and survival percentages. Based on their number of "poor risk" factors, patients were placed into four IPI risk groups: low (one or no risk factors), low-intermediate (two risk factors), intermediate-high (three risk factors), and high (four or five risk factors) with five years survival rates of 88%; 82%; 18% and 0% respectively. However, one limitation of this prediction strategy is that IPI does not encompass molecular abnormalities of tumour cells, which may play a critical role in determining profoundly different clinical outcomes in patients within the same group as defined by IPI. The aim of this study was to assess the clinical significance and potential prognostic value of the expression of the new immunologic prognostic markers including nuclear proliferating antigen, suppressor and oncogenic proteins, HLA-DR surface antigens, tumour infiltrating T-lymphocytes, lymphocyte homing receptor and angiogenic molecules. Immunohistochemistry was used to examine paraffin-embedded tumour tissues for determining the expression of immunologic prognostic markers. Survival analysis showed that serum-high lactate dehydrogenase level, poor performance status (ECOG 3, 4 and 5), high proliferative activity defined as nuclear Ki67 expression greater than 60% of malignant cells and high tumour invasive potential defined by discontinued or loss of Collagen IV were found as strong predictors of poor survival among these patients. These four prognostic parameters determined the New-PI with three risk groups: good (0-1 risk factors), intermediate (2 risk factors) and poor (3 and more risk factors), with predicted five-years survival rates of 88%, 64% and 0%. The New-PI more accurately predicts the outcome than the standard IPI (p < 0,001 vs. p < 0.0001). Based on a single institution series of 136 patients the IPI has proved to be a useful prognostic tool for NHL patients. Addition of new cellular markers into the standard IPI significantly improves risk stratification in NHL.