Exit of pediatric pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukaemia cells from the bone marrow to the peripheral blood is not associated with cell maturation or alterations in gene expression.
BACKGROUND: Childhood pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a bone marrow (BM) derived disease, which often disseminates out of the BM cavity, where malignant cells to a variable degree can be found circulating in the peripheral blood (PB). Normal pre-B cells are absolutely dependent on BM stroma for survival and differentiation. It is not known whether transformed pre-B ALL cells retain any