Pediatric precursor T lymphoblastic leukemia and lymphoblastic lymphoma: Differences in the common regions with loss of heterozygosity at chromosome 6q and their prognostic impact

Deletions on chromosome 6q are frequently reported in hematological malignancies. However, their biological or prognostic impact has not yet been clarified. This study analyzed loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at chromosome 6q and compared the LOH findings in pediatric precursor T lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-LBL) with the LOH findings in precursor-T lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). For LOH analyses, a set of 25 microsatellite-markers on 6q14-q24 were examined. All patients were treated uniformly according to ALL-BFM-type treatment-strategy. A total of 1671 markers were successfully analyzed from 108 T-LBL patients. LOH was detected in 21 T-LBL patients. There was clear association between LOH at 6q and an increased risk of relapse. In comparison, 3109 markers were successfully analyzed from 127 T-ALL-patients. LOH was detected in 16 patients, but was not associated with increased relapse-rate. The localization of the common LOH regions identified for T-LBL and T-ALL samples did not overlap. Therefore patterns of LOH at 6q and the prognostic impact of LOH differ between T-ALL and T-LBL. These results hint at biologic differences between the two diseases.