CD19 expression in acute leukemia is not restricted to the cytogenetically aberrant populations

Abstract

Aberrant expression of the B lymphoid marker, CD19, in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has frequently been associated with t(8;21)(q22;q22). However, AML cases lacking t(8;21) may occasionally express CD19. We asked whether CD19 expression is restricted to the karyotypically abnormal leukemic cells in primary leukemia samples. We compared, by fluorescence in situ hybridization, CD19-positive and CD19-negative cells from nine patients with acute leukemia: three non-t(8;21) AML, three t(8;21) AML and three cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. There were no significant differences in karyotypic pattern between the CD19-positive and CD19-negative leukemic cells, raising the concern that therapeutically targeting CD19 for acute leukemia may not eradicate all malignant clones.

Keywords::

• Acute myeloid leukemia
• CD19
• flow cytometry
• fluorescence in situ hybridization

Acknowledgements

This work was supported partially by a grant from the National Cancer Institute, CA16056 (J.F., A.V.D., S.N.J.S., G.D., P.K.W., J.E.T., E.S.W., M.W.), the Leonard S. LuVullo Endowment for Leukemia Research (M.W.), the Nancy C. Cully Endowment for Leukemia Research (M.W.), the Dennis Szefel Jr Endowment, the Babcock Family Endowment and the Heidi Leukemia Research Fund, Buffalo, NY (M.W.).

Potential conflict of interest

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