Outcomes in patients with mixed phenotype acute leukemia in Morocco.

Mixed phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL) includes biphenotypic and bilineal types of leukemia, which constitute rare subtypes that require individualized therapy. Outcomes in Moroccan patients with MPAL are unknown. Among 1264 patients with acute leukemia, 20 were classified as having MPAL, including 17 with biphenotypic acute leukemia (1.3%) and 3 with bilineal leukemia (0.2%). There were 8 adults and 12 children. In 12 cases (60%), leukemic blasts expressed myeloid and T-lymphoid antigens, and, in 5 cases (25%), leukemic blasts expressed B lymphoid antigens plus myeloid antigens. Patients were initially treated on protocols for acute myeloid leukemia (n=4), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL, n=14), or with palliative care (n=2). The probability of survival at 2 years in MPAL cases was 52%± 14%. Six of the 12 patients younger than 15 years remain alive versus 1 of 8 adult patients. Patients treated with ALL-directed therapy had significantly higher overall survival than those treated with acute myeloid leukemia-directed therapy (P=0.003). There was no association between the phenotypic characteristics and the clinical outcome (P=0.83). In conclusion, MPAL represents 1.5% of acute leukemia in Morocco. The prognosis is poor, but initial treatment with therapy directed toward ALL, improved supportive care, and the prevention of abandonment of therapy may improve outcomes in this subgroup of patients.

Characterization of acute lymphoblastic leukemia subtypes in moroccan children.

We present the incidence and the immunologic characteristics of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) subsets in Moroccan children. We studied 279 unselected patients below the age of 18 years with newly diagnosed ALL. Cases were classified according to immunophenotype: 216 (77.42%) precursor B-cell phenotype (pB-cell), mature B-cell in 4 (1.43%), and T-cell in 59 (21.15%) cases. The subclassification using the CD10 antibody revealed 197 cases pB-ALL CD10+ (91.2%) and 9 cases T-ALL CD10+ (19.2%). The age distribution showed a peak in incidence between 3 and 5 years among the pB-cell ALLs subtype. There was a significantly higher frequency of males in the T-ALL subset (M/F ratio: 2.93 : 1) and more females in the T-ALL CD10+ subset when compared with the T-ALL CD10- subset. All tested pB-cell-lineage ALLs expressed CD19, CD79a, and surface CD22, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) was detectable in 89.9% of cases, and cells in 74.1% of cases express CD34. All tested T-lineage ALL cells have surface CD7 and cytoplasmic CD3 (cCD3) antigens, CD5 was found in 98.2% cases, and 70.5% express TdT. CD1a, surface CD3 (sCD3), and CD4 are detected in more than 80% of cases; this frequency is higher than the 45% generally observed. Myeloid antigens occur more frequently and were expressed in 124 (57.4%) of pB-cell-ALL cases and 20 (33.9%) of T-cell ALL cases. Our results show that the distribution of ALLs in Moroccan children is similar with the general distribution pattern in developed countries except for the high frequency of T-ALL phenotype. The phenotypic profiles of our patients are close to those reported in literature for B-lineage ALLs; for the T-cell ALL subgroup, the blast cells express more CD1a, surface CD3, and CD4 while expressing less TdT. The high frequency of CD1a expression resulted in an excess of the common thymocyte subtype.