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OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical and laboratory features of children and adolescents with acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated at three referral centers in Ceará and evaluate prognostic factors for survival, including age, gender, presenting white blood cell count, immunophenotype, DNA index and early response to treatment. METHODS: Seventy-six under 19-year-old patients with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated with the Grupo Brasileiro de Tratamento de Leucemia da Infância - acute lymphoblastic leukemia-93 and -99 protocols between September 2007 and December 2009 were analyzed. The diagnosis was based on cytological, immunophenotypic and cytogenetic criteria. Associations between variables, prognostic factors and response to treatment were analyzed using the chi-square test and Fisher's exact test. Overall and event-free survival were estimated by Kaplan-Meier analysis and compared using the log-rank test. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to identify independent prognostic factors. RESULTS: The average age at diagnosis was 6.3±0.5 years and males were predominant (65%). The most frequently observed clinical features were hepatomegaly, splenomegaly and lymphadenopathy. Central nervous system involvement and mediastinal enlargement occurred in 6.6% and 11.8%, respectively. B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia was more common (89.5%) than T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia. A DNA index >1.16 was found in 19% of patients and was associated with favorable prognosis. On Day 8 of induction therapy, 95% of the patients had lymphoblast counts <1000/µL and white blood cell counts <5.0×10(9)/L. The remission induction rate was 95%, the induction mortality rate was 2.6% and overall survival was 72%. CONCLUSION: The prognostic factors identified are compatible with the literature. The 5-year overall and event-free survival rates were lower than those reported for developed countries. As shown by the multivariate analysis, age and baseline white blood cell count were independent prognostic factors.
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BACKGROUND: p16INK4a seems to be an indicator of the grade of Human Papillomavirus-induced lesions and a possible predictor of the lesion evolution. There are few studies about the role of HPV test and p16INK4a in diagnosis of high-grade cervical lesions in South-American women. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the presence of p16INK4a and high-risk HPV-DNA expression in cases diagnosed as squamous intra-epithelial lesion and evaluate their role in the approach of high-grade squamous intra-epithelial lesion. METHODS: p16INK4a and high-risk Human papillomavirus were investigated in 96 samples of the cervix (13 cases of high grade squamous intraepithelial lesions, 26 cases of low grade intraepithelial lesions and 57 normal tissues). The p16INK4a was identified by immunohistochemistry using the p16INK4a kit (E6H4 clone, DakoCytomation, Carpinteria, CA) and Human papillomavirus DNA was classified by hybrid capture (Digene). Associations were evaluated by the KAPPA index. RESULTS: The p16INK4a was detected in 92.3% of the high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions, in 15.4% of the low-grade and in none of the normal tissues. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value for high-grade lesion were 92.3%, 100%, 100%, and 98.3%, respectively when considering p16INK4a expression, and 100%, 70.2%, 43.3% and 100%, respectively when considering high-risk HPV. CONCLUSIONS: p16INK4a test was better associated with high-grade intraepithelial lesion (kappa = 0.95) than was the presence of high-risk HPV (kappa = 0.47). Both tests could be complementary to high-grade squamous intra-epithelial lesion screening and help to define the diagnosis of the inconclusive low-grade/high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion cases.