Unmasking the Heterogeneity of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

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Abstract
Recognition of cell-surface markers for lymphocytes of T-cell or B-cell origin led to the suggestion that leukemias and lymphomas could be classified on the basis of cell origin or cell characteristics. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia has long been recognized to be a heterogeneous disease on the basis of clinical presentation, response to chemotherapy, course and prognosis. Despite this clinical heterogeneity, lymphoblasts in this disease appear morphologically indistinguishable. Since Minowada, Ohnuma and Moore1 observed that lymphoblasts from a cell line established from a patient with the disorder had surface characteristics of T lymphocytes, a large number of investigators have attempted to determine . . .