A translocation t(5;15)(q15;q11-13) infant case with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and literature review: prognosis implications

Infant acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) represents poor prognosis despite intensive chemotherapy. Rearrangements of chromosome 11q23 are not observed in 34% of the cases. Infant ALL patients with t(5;15)(p15;q11-13) are rare and sporadic. In large series of infant ALL studies, 6 patients have been reported. We present a new case of an infant ALL patient with t(5;15)(p15;q11-13), and a literature review. Considering the data provided by our case and previous reports, we reinforce that this chromosomal abnormality is characteristic of ALL patients under 12 months of age sharing break point in 5p15 and 15q11-13 and strengthen the existence of an infant ALL subgroup characterized by pre-B L1 ALL, CD10-positive, complete remission (100%), and event-free survival (71%), with a relatively good prognosis and clearly less severe than the 11q23 rearrangement cases. This abnormality can be considered a recurrent abnormality on this nosologic group.