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DOI: 10.4103/ijmpo.ijmpo_280_20
A Case Report and Review of B‑Lineage Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemias with Cannibalistic Lymphoblasts: A Unique Morphologic and Molecular Genetic Entity?
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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.
Publication History
Received: 04 June 2020
Accepted: 05 September 2020
Article published online:
14 May 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/.)
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