CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol 2020; 41(06): 917-919
DOI: 10.4103/ijmpo.ijmpo_280_20
Case Report with Review of Literature

A Case Report and Review of B‑Lineage Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemias with Cannibalistic Lymphoblasts: A Unique Morphologic and Molecular Genetic Entity?

B K Bommannan
Department of Hematology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
,
Man Updesh Singh Sachdeva
Department of Hematology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
,
Shano Naseem
Department of Hematology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
,
Alka Khadwal
Department of Internal Medicine, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
,
Neelam Varma
Department of Hematology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
› Institutsangaben
Financial support and sponsorship Nil.

Abstract

Cannibalism is a type of “cell-in-cell” phenomenon commonly described in myeloid lineage malignancies. Although lymphocytes and their precursors are inherently non-phagocytic, there are sporadic case reports describing cannibalism by leukemic lymphoblasts. In the current manuscript, we report the case of a pediatric B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) patient showing cannibalistic lymphoblasts and have reviewed the clinical and laboratory characteristics of similar cases documented in literature. Our manuscript highlights that all reported B-ALL patients showing cannibalistic lymphoblasts had intra-cytoplasmic vacuolations, and all such treatment-naïve pediatric patients were ETV6-RUNX1 fusion positive and had aberrant expression of myeloid lineage antigens.



Publikationsverlauf

Eingereicht: 04. Juni 2020

Angenommen: 05. September 2020

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
14. Mai 2021

© 2020. Indian Society of Medical and Paediatric Oncology. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)

Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
A-12, 2nd Floor, Sector 2, Noida-201301 UP, India

 
  • References

  • 1 Sinha S, Park JE, Park IJ, Lim YA, Lee WG, Cho SR. Hemophagocytosis by leukemic blasts in B lymphoblastic leukemia with t (12;21)(p13;q22); TEL-AML1 (ETV6-RUNX1): A case report. Ann Clin Lab Sci 2013; 43: 186-9
  • 2 Colon-Otero G, Li CY, Dewald GW, White WL. Erythrophagocytic acute lymphocytic leukemia with B-cell markers and with a 20q- chromosome abnormality. Mayo Clin Proc 1984; 59: 678-82
  • 3 Meeren S, Werff Ten BoschJ, Jochmans S. Phagocytic blasts in B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Br J Haematol 2013; 160: 122
  • 4 Foadi MD, Slater AM, Pegrum GD. Erythrophagocytosis by acute lymphoblastic leukaemic cells. Scand J Haemato 1978; 20: 85-8
  • 5 Olaiya OO, Li W. Frequent erythrophagocytosis by leukemic blasts in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Blood 2018; 131: 2178
  • 6 Klein E, Derrieux C, Dulucq S. Hemophagocytosis by blasts in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Blood Res 2019; 54: 2
  • 7 Kale A. Cell ular cannibalism. J Oral Maxillofac Pathol 2015; 19: 7-9
  • 8 Sharma N, Dey P. Cell cannibalism and cancer. Diagn Cytopathol 2011; 39: 229-33
  • 9 Gupta A, Modi CJ, Gujral S. Hemophagocytosis by leukemic cells in biphenotypic acute leukaemia: A rare case. Indian J Pathol Microbiol 2010; 53: 370-1
  • 10 Mori H, Tawara M, Yoshida Y, Kuriyama K, Sugahara K, Kamihira S. et al. Minimally differentiated acute myeloid leukemia (AML-M0) with extensive erythrophagocytosis and del (20)(q11) chromosome abnormality. Leuk Res 2000; 24: 87-90