Analysis of cytoplasmic and surface antigens in childhood T‐cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemias: clinical relevance of cytoplasmic TCRβ chain expression

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Abstract
SUMMARY. Expression of surface and cytoplasmic antigens on the blasts from 42 cases of childhood T‐cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T‐ALL) were analysed. All with childhood T‐ALL, except for one case expressing cytoplasmic TCR δ chain, were classified on the basis of differential expression of cytoplasmic CD3 (cCD3), TCRβ chain (cTCR β) and surface CD3 (sCD3) into the following three groups: group I (cCD3+, cTCRβ‐, sCD3‐), eight cases (19.5%); group II (cCD3+, cTCRβ+, sCD3‐), 23 cases (56.1%); group III (cCD3+, cTCRβ+, sCD3+), 10 cases (24.4%). Each group defines the stepwise maturational stage of the CD3/TCR complex along the intrathymic T‐cell differentiation. Group I had the lowest initial WBC count among the three groups (P < 0.05) and showed significantly (P < 0.05) a higher event‐free survival (0.75) than those of group II (0.33). There was no significant difference in both the initial WBC count and the event‐free survival between groups II and III. Thus, the absence of cTCRβ in sCD3‐negative T‐ALL appears to be a good prognostic factor, suggesting that this classification provides a useful tool to predict the prognosis of childhood T‐ALL. This is the first report, to our knowledge, studying the relationship between the expression of cytoplasmic CD3/TCR antigens and the clinical features in T‐ALL.