Expression of glucocorticoid receptors and blast cell clearance in children with different variants of acute lymphoblastic leukemia

: Glucocorticoid receptor (GR) levels were estimated in blast cells of 24 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, in different immunocytologic subvariants of the disease. No relationship was revealed between immunophenotype and GR number in blasts. It was found that the response to prednisolone therapy did not depend on the number of sites specifically bound to glucocorticoids. The response character is determined not by immunophenotype but by the initial number of blast cells in the peripheral blood (the higher blastosis, the worse response). High blastosis is probably dependent on the tumor growth rate.