The Outcome of Philadelphia Chromosome-Positive Adult ALL: Characteristics and Prognosis

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Purpose: The Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome is a wellknownchromosome abnormality in adults with B-lineageALL, and is associated with a poor prognosis. This studycompared the clinical manifestations and prognosis inadult Ph-positive and Ph-negative ALL patients.Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed theclinical records of adult patients newly diagnosed asB-lineage ALL, between January 1995 and February 2001.Fifty five patients were included in this study. We dividedthe patients into Ph-positive and Ph-negative groups.Results: Eighteen of the 55 patients (32.7%) were foundto have the Ph chromosome. At initial diagnosis, thePh-positive patients had higher circulating leukocytecounts, lower platelet counts and had a greater tendencyto bleed, than the Ph-negative group. The completeremission rates were 83.3% and 83.8% for the Ph-positiveand the Ph-negative groups, respectively. Four of thePh-positive, and 13 of the Ph-negative, patients underwentallogenic bone marrow transplantation. The medianfollow-up for the surviving patients was 39.3 months. Thethree-year survival rates were 10.4% and 51.8% for thePh-positive and the Ph-negative groups, respectively. Themedian disease-free survival was 7.7 months for thePh-positive group, but did not reach the median value inthe Ph-negative group. Among the Ph-positive patients,age was the only factor that had an impact on the diseaseoutcome.Conclusion: In adult B-lineage ALL, the Ph-positivepatients had similar complete remission rates to otherpatients; however, the remission was of shorter duration,with a higher relapse rate in the Ph-positive patients. Moreeffective treatments are needed to improve the survivalof the Ph-positive patients. (Cancer Res Treat. 2002;34:289-295)