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Trisomy 11: prevalence among 22 403 unique patient cytogenetic studies and clinical correlates

Leukemia volume 24, pages 1092–1094 (2010)Cite this article

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Trisomy 11 is a rare cytogenetic abnormality and is yet reported to be one of the most frequent autosomal trisomies in acute myeloid leukemia (AML).1 In a Cancer and Leukemia Group B study, isolated trisomy 11 was identified in 13 cases (0.9%) among 1496 consecutive adult patients with AML.2 The majority of the patients with isolated trisomy 11 were older than 60 years and 46% achieved a complete remission after induction chemotherapy.2 However, only one patient remained in first complete remission after undergoing allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. In a recent Leukemia paper, Wang et al.3 identified 42 cases (0.008%) with trisomy 11 among ∼5000 patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or MDS with myeloproliferative features. Seventeen of the 42 patients (median age, 75 years) had trisomy 11 as a sole abnormality (n=10) or together with one or two additional abnormalities. Specific diagnoses in these 17 patients were refractory anemia with excess of blasts (RAEB)-2 in 8 patients, RAEB-1 in 5, refractory cytopenia with multilineage dysplasia in 1, therapy-related MDS in 1 and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia-2 in 1; bone marrow was not available for review in the remaining 1 patient. The authors compared their trisomy 11 MDS patients with historical controls and found their survival to be similar to that of high-risk MDS patients. Accordingly, they concluded that trisomy 11 should be considered a high-risk cytogenetic abnormality in MDS.

In the current study, we sought to clarify the prevalence of trisomy 11 in an unselected series of cytogenetic studies performed at the Mayo Clinic over the last 20 years and describe their clinical and pathological features. Between January 1988 and December 2008, unique patient cytogenetic studies were performed in 22 403 adults (age ⩾18 years). Among them, we identified 19 patients (∼0.08%) with abnormalities that included trisomy 11; WHO (World Health Organization)-defined4 clinical diagnosis at the first sighting of trisomy 11 was AML in 14 patients and MDS in 5 (Table 1). Among the former, 10 cases constituted de novo AML and 4 constituted relapsed or secondary AML. Among the five MDS patients, three had RAEB-2 and two had RAEB-1. Trisomy 11 occurred as a sole abnormality in 10 patients with AML, but in only one patient with MDS (RAEB-2).

Table 1 Cytogenetic, clinicopathological and outcome data in 19 patients with trisomy 11
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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cattedra ed UO di Ematologia, Policlinico Universitario di Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    D Caramazza & S Siragusa

  2. Division of Cytogenetics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    R P Ketterling, R A Knudson & A Tefferi

  3. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    R P Ketterling & R A Knudson

  4. Division of Hematopathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    C A Hanson

  5. Division of Hematology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    A Pardanani

  6. Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    A Pardanani

Authors
  1. D Caramazza
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  2. R P Ketterling
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  3. R A Knudson
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  4. C A Hanson
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  5. S Siragusa
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  6. A Pardanani
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  7. A Tefferi
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Correspondence to A Tefferi.

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Caramazza, D., Ketterling, R., Knudson, R. et al. Trisomy 11: prevalence among 22 403 unique patient cytogenetic studies and clinical correlates. Leukemia 24, 1092–1094 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/leu.2010.51

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