Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)
Pathogenesis
Caused by lymphoid precursors — lymphoblasts.
Clinical signs
- age: most common in children, less common in adults
- anemia
- thrombocytopenia
- leukopenia or leukocytosis
- hepatosplenomegaly
- lymphadenopathy
- skin infiltration and other symptoms
- prognosis: a very aggressive disease, which however
has high cure rates, especially in children
(70 – 80% of cases achieve complete remission)
Histology
Same as precursor lymphoblastic lymphoma —
small to middle-sized cells with round nuclei
and finely dispersed chromatin, without prominent nucleoli,
with a narrow rim of basophilic cytoplasm.
Imunophenotype:
T lineage (CD3+) or B lineage (CD20+ a CD79a+),
null type — both T and B markers are negative,
CD10 (CALLA)+, TdT+.