Incidence and outcome of TCF3-PBX1-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Austrian children

Lessons from the analysis of children with TCF3-PBX1 ALL could help to identify treatment components essential for this leukemia subtype.Of 859 children with ALL who were treated in ALL-BFM trials in Austria, 31 (3.6%) had a TCF3-PBX1 ALL.The 5-year event-free survival rate for these 31 patients was 90%±5%.Patients with TCF3-PBX1 ALL treated on the ALL-BFM 86 trial had a poorer outcome than patients with TCF3-PBX1 ALL treated on later trials.These data document that contemporary ALL-BFM treatment is highly effective in children with TCF3-PBX1 ALL.Implementation of early dose-intensified remission induction may be an essential treatment component.