Chromosomal ploidy is a major risk stratification tool for acute B-cell lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). Low hypodiploidy and near-haploidy are thought to be confined to pediatric B-ALL and associated with a poor prognosis. Doubling of either a low-hypodiploid or a near-haploid clone results in an apparently high-hyperdiploid karyotype, which is often misclassified for risk.
We studied four patients with B-ALL who had chromosome genomic array testing (CGAT), along with fluorescence in situ hybridization and mutation testing.
We identified a unique case of adult B-ALL with masked low hypodiploidy (mLH) by genomic duplication, along with a somatic deletion of the IKZF3 gene and a somatic TP53 mutation. Three cases of pediatric B-ALL with mLH, two with TP53 mutations and one untested, were also identified and compared with the adult patient.
CGAT was critical in the genotype clarification of these cases through detection of copy-neutral loss of heterozygosity and should be considered performing for B-ALL with apparent hyperdiploidy for accurate prognostic risk stratification and treatment planning.