Estudo imunofenotípico da leucemia linfoblástica na criança: associação com a situação sócio-econômica e outros fatores biológicos ao diagnóstico

Abstract

Immunophenotypes of one hundred and forty seven cases of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) were performed by flow cytometry at diagnosis. The relative frequencies of the immunological subtypes were very similar to those described in developed countries. Cases were subclassified in pre-B CD10 positive (70%), pre-B CD10 negative (12%) and T-ALL (16%); three analysis were inconclusive (2%). Children with ALL of mature B type were not entered into this study. The typical incidence peak at age 2-5 years was observed among the pre-B CD10 positive cases. ALL of T lineage predominated in males, while the pre-B CD10 negative cases were more prevalent in females. The high white cell count had strong independent significance when subtypes pre-B CD10 negative and T were compared to subtype pre-B CD10 positive. There was no significant difference in between the socio-economic status (familial monthly per capita income and daily energy consumption, housing condition) and nutritional variables (height and weight for age z scores) and the three immunological subtypes studied. Therefore, our results suggest that the negative influence of socio-economic status and nutritional condition on the prognosis of ALL is not explained by differences in the distribution of immunological subtypes. This study argues for a prolonged follow-up of the cases and for a disease-free survival multivariate analysis.