Interrelationship of immunologic characteristics, proliferation pattern, and prednisone sensitivity in acute lymphoblastic leukemia of childhood

Abstract

Abstract In children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) the effect of prednisone therapy on the cell-cycle phase distribution of leukemic bone marrow cells was determined with pulse cytophotometry at the time of diagnosis. Also, the interrelationship with the presence of the sheep erythrocyte receptor as a marker for T cells was investigated. In 17 or 21 patients prednisone treatment caused a decrease in the percentage of cells in the S+G2+M phases. In 11 of 12 adult patients with ALL the same result was obtained. In a group of 31 children with ALL, 6 cases of T-cell ALL occurred in combination with intermediate or high WBC counts. The 3 patients with the highest E-rosetting percentages had rather high proportions of bone marrow cells in the S+G2+M phases. No correlation could be established between the WBC count or the E-rosetting percentage and the chance for complete remission.