Philadelphia-like acute lymphoblastic leukemia in pediatric cases

Abstract

Leukemia is a heterogeneous group of neoplastic diseases that develop as a result of the malignant transformation of hematopoietic cells. Philadelphia (Ph)-like acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a subgroup of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), which is included in the high-risk classification and has a poor prognosis. It is similar to Ph-positive ALL in gene expression profile, but this subtype does not have BCR-ABL1 fusion. The disease is genetically heterogeneous. In addition, the genetic changes of Ph-like ALL cases with different ethnic origins also differ. It is important to distinguish and classify Ph-like ALL cases from patients with B-ALL for effective treatment. In recent years, it is on the agenda to design panels in which gene expression differences are analyzed in addition to evaluating genetic and clinical findings in B-ALL cases to identify cases belonging to the Ph-like ALL subgroup.