Immunophenotyping of Leukemia in Children, Gorgan, Iran

Abstract Background Leukemia is one of the most common tumors in children and it is divided up into two main groups; acute and chronic leukemia. The acute leukemia is more prevalent than chronic in children. Generally acute type is included acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In this study, patients with leukemia who were admitted in Talghani hospital of Gorgan were examined for immune markers. Materials and Methods Forty one patients (34 persons with ALL and 7 persons with AML) were examined. Bone marrow aspiration samples were obtained in tubes containing EDTA and were sent to pathology center of Baghiatallah hospital, Tehran. Immunophenotyping was conducted by Flow cytometry and results were recorded in profiles of patients. Results The mean age of ALL and AML patients was 5.64±3.43 and 7.45±5.68 years respectively. It was determined that ALL risk in males is 1.086 times more than females. Mann-Whitney test did not show significant difference between mean age of AML and ALL groups (p=0.5). Highest markers in ALL were CD19 (90.2%), CD10 (84.36%), I3 (HLA-DR) (70.58%), and in AML CD45 (81.8%), I3 (HLA-DR) (63.64%) and CD34 (54.5%). Conclusion The prevalence of markers in ALL and AML patients is different, and some of them are common. These results could be used for differentiation of ALM from ALL. Further study was recommended on bigger sample-size to achieve a definite conclusion.