Childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) demonstrates clinical and biological heterogeneity, which is largely sustained by a diverse genetic background. Today, the majority of children with ALL treated on modern treatment protocols can expect to achieve long-term cure, but still a significant proportion of patients suffer therapy-related toxicity and disease relapse.
Thus, identification of new prognostic markers to improve initial risk assessment for subsequent treatment tailoring remains an important goal in ALL research.