CD123 Expression Is Associated With High-Risk Disease Characteristics in Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A Report From the Children’s Oncology Group

Lamble AJ, Eidenschink Brodersen L, Alonzo TA, Wang J, Pardo L, Sung L, Cooper TM, Kolb EA, Aplenc R, Tasian SK, Loken MR, Meshinchi S. CD123 Expression Is Associated With High-Risk Disease Characteristics in Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A Report From the Children’s Oncology Group. J Clin Oncol. 2022 Jan 20;40(3):252-261. doi: 10.1200/JCO.21.01595. Epub 2021 Dec 2. PubMed PMID: 34855461; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8769096.

Increased CD123 surface expression has been associated with high-risk disease characteristics in adult acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but has not been well-characterized in childhood AML. In this study, we defined CD123 expression and associated clinical characteristics in a uniformly treated cohort of pediatric patients with newly diagnosed AML enrolled on the Children’s Oncology Group AAML1031 phase III trial (NCT01371981). AML blasts within diagnostic bone marrow specimens (n = 1,040) were prospectively analyzed for CD123 protein expression by multidimensional flow cytometry immunophenotyping at a central clinical laboratory. Patients were stratified as low-risk or high-risk on the basis of (1) leukemia-associated cytogenetic and molecular alterations and (2) end-of-induction measurable residual disease levels.