Objective: The relation of absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) with minimal residual disease (MRD) in T cell - acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is not known. The objective of the study was to correlate ALC with MRD, steroid-response and complete remission (CR).
Methods: De-novo T- ALL patients (age 1-18 y) recruited prospectively; 52 enrolled, 9 excluded, and 43 analyzed. 39 achieved CR and MRD was available for 28 patients; 23 were MRD negative.
Results: ALC did not correlate with steroid response and CR. Median (range) ALC at the end of induction was significantly higher in patients who were MRD negative compared to MRD positive [1.24 (0.12, 6.69) vs 0.62 (0.15, 0.87); P=0.03], respectively. Patients having ALC ≥700 ×109 /L were significantly more likely to be MRD negative than those with lower values (P= 0.028).
Conclusion: Our study suggests that ALC is a favorable factor, and may act as surrogate marker for MRD.