Advances and issues in flow cytometric detection of immunophenotypic changes and genomic rearrangements in acute pediatric leukemia

Pediatric leukemia is the most common type of cancer in children. Around 95% cases of pediatric leukemia are acute. Acute leukemia comprises a heterogeneous group of malignant diseases characterized by clonal expansion of immature hematopoietic precursor cells. Two major categories of acute leukemia are recognized: (I) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) subdivided into B- and T-cell precursor ALL and (II) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) characterized by an overproduction of immature myeloblasts or leukemic blasts (1). ALL covers approximately three out of every four cases of childhood leukemia while AML is the next most common type