Genetic characterization of high hyperdiploidy in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia

High hyperdiploidy (HH), the most common numerical chromosome aberration in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and an established favorable prognostic marker, is characterized by a nonrandom pattern of chromosomal gains. However, knowledge on the origin and the conservation of this pattern in the course of disease is comparatively scarce. To address this issue, we compared the genomes of HH leukemias at first diagnosis and relapse by copy number analysis using standard and high resolution Affymetrix arrays. Until now, we analyzed 10 patients and found that the pattern of chromosomal gains is largely co…