does the patient have B-cell or T-cell ALL
Complete remission(CR), refractory(REF) or NA. Derived from CR
did the patient have t(4;11) translocation. Derived from citog
did the patient have t(9;22) translocation. Derived from citog
Was cytogenetic test normal? Derived from citog
original citogenetics data, deletions or t(4;11), t(9;22) status
which of p190, p210 or p190/210 for bcr/able
Continuous complete remission? Derived from f.u
did the patient receive a bone marrow transplant? Derived from f.u

Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

Gene expression profile of adult T-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia identifies distinct subsets of patients with different response to therapy and survival.

Gene expression profiles were examined in 33 adult patients with T-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia (T-ALL). Nonspecific filtering criteria identified 313 genes differentially expressed in the leukemic cells. Hierarchical clustering of samples identified 2 groups that reflected the degree of T-cell differentiation but was not associated with clinical outcome. Comparison between refractory patients and those who responded to induction chemotherapy identified a single gene, interleukin 8 (IL-8), that was highly expressed in refractory T-ALL cells and a set of 30 genes that was highly expressed in leukemic cells from patients who achieved complete remission. We next identified 19 genes that were differentially expressed in T-ALL cells from patients who either had a relapse or remained in continuous complete remission. A model based on the expression of 3 of these genes was predictive of duration of remission. The 3-gene model was validated on a further set of T-ALL samples from 18 additional patients treated on the same clinical protocol. This study demonstrates that gene expression profiling can identify a limited number of genes that are predictive of response to induction therapy and remission duration in adult patients with T-ALL.