Serial Cytogenetic Studies in Acute Leukemia

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Medicine Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 18 - 25
• Main Authors: KAMADA, Nanao, OGUMA, Nobuo, MIKAMI, Motoko, TANAKA, Ryuji, ISHII, Yukifumi, UCHINO, Haruto
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Japanese Society of Internal Medicine 1976
• Subjects: Acute leukemia; Atomic Bomb survivors; C-G translocation; Chromosome aberrations
• ISSN: 0021-5120; 1881-123X
• DOI: 10.2169/internalmedicine1962.15.18

Hematological and cytogenetic studies on bone marrow cells were performed on 101 adults with acute leukemia, 58(57.4%) of whom had abnormal karyotypes in their leukemic cells prior to treatment. In myelocytic leukemia, nonrandom distribution of chromosomal abnormalities was observed, C-, D+, E+, G- abnormalities, which were probably due to translocation of C group chromosome to the long arm of G chromosome, t (Cq- ; Gq+). This translocation occurred significantly more often than expected. All patients with these translocations had low neutrophil alkaline phosphatase activity and characteristic findings in blood pictures and survival time. Serial cytogenetic examinations were also performed on 32 patients. When the condition of these patients with abnormal karyotypes turned to complete or incomplete remission by effective treatment, most of the bone marrow metaphases were replaced by normal karyotypes, and sometimes, co-existence with a small percentage of abnormal karyotypes was observed. It seems that chromosome analyses during the course of the disease gave some information about the judgement of remission and guide for the leukemia therapy. The discussion was made on the frequency of chromosome abnormalities in acute leukemia, possible nonrandom abnormalities of chromosomes in acute myelocytic leukemia, and a fairly weak relationship between chromosome aberrations and survival time.