Leukemia characterized by multiple sub-clones with unbalanced translocations involving different telomeric segments: Case report and review of the literature

Abstract

A 68-year-old man presented with t(4;11)(q21;q23), B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) which was negative for C-ALL antigen and TdT. Clonal evolution to five different, but related karyotypes, in which chromosomal material distal either to 1q11 or 1q21 was translocated to the terminal regions of 4q-, 11q, 16q, and 19p resulted in partial or total trisomy of 1q. The patient, having achieved a short remission, died 14 weeks after diagnosis. Five reports of jumping translocations in hematological malignancies, four with B-lineage malignancy, are reviewed. One (four cases) or both (one case) of the same 1q breakpoints were consistently found and 11q and 16q were repeatedly involved. Such cases, having multiple subclones with trisomy 1q, may form a distinct subgroup of ALL.