The MIF-173G/C polymorphism does not contribute to prednisone poor response in vivo in childhoood acute lymphoblastic leucemia

Treatment results of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have greatly improved over the last decades. Identification of patients at higher risk of treatment failure remains one major target of current clinical research in this field. In the last decade the Associazione Italiana di Ematologia ed Oncologia Pediatrica (AIEOP)1 and the Berlin–Frankfurt–Münster (BFM) study groups have emphasized the role of corticosteroid sensitivity of leukemic blasts at the time of diagnosis, a risk feature first described and subsequently assessed by the BFM group.2 Patients with 1000 blast cells per l of peripheral blood after 7 days of prednisone monotherapy and one injection of intrathecal methotrexate (IT-MTX) were considered to have a poor response to prednisone (PPR) and no more than a 35% chance of becoming long-term disease-free survivors on standard therapeutic protocols.3 Recently their outcome has improved when more intensive chemotherapy has been applied.