Mixed phenotype acute leukemia with PML-RARα positive: a case report and literature review

Mixed phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL) is an uncommon type of leukemia. It is one kind of malignant clonal diseases that expresses more than one genealogical specific antigen simultaneously. Most MPAL patients are associated with clonal chromosomal abnormalities and molecular genetic changes, such as t(9;22) (q34;q11) and KMT2A (MLL) rearrangement. These specific abnormalities usually have important guiding significance in MPAL diagnosis, targeted therapy and prognosis judgment. In this paper, we reported a case of MPAL, T/myeloid (M5) with an unfrequent combination of PML-RARα positivity and t(15;17). The treatment was successful with chemotherapy for both AML and ALL with daunorubicin, cytarabine (DA) and vincristine, prednisone (VP). We reported here this suggestive MPAL case of rare disease condition and effective treatment, in order to provide experience for the early diagnosis and treatment of similar patients.