Prognostic significance of cell surface phenotype in adult acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

Forty-two adults with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia were subgrouped according to the membrane marker characteristics of their blast cells. All patients received the same treatment at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. The results indicate that the group expressing the common ALL antigen have a superior remission duration to the ALL antigen-negative, non-T, non-B ALL group and the T-ALL group. No correlation was evident between the first two subgroups and the clinical features of disease.