Immunophenotype segnature as a tool to define prognostic subgroups in childhood acute myeloid leucemia.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous disease group morphologically classified, based on the French–American– British (FAB) classification, into eight main subgroups defined as subtypes M0–M7. Besides morphologic differences, genetic abnormalities have been recognized; cytogenetics and molecular analyses are currently used to identify subgroups of AML with different clinical prognosis. However, in spite of available prognostic factors, accurate prediction of risk for treatment failure or relapse is not completely satisfactory. In order to improve risk assignment and develop new therapeutic strategies, gene expression profiling and proteomic analysis seem to offer important improvements in leukemia classification.