Near-Haploidy and Low-Hypodiploidy in B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: When Less Is Too Much

SIMPLE SUMMARY: B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) is characterized by an uncontrolled proliferation of blood cells in the bone marrow. A small fraction of B-ALL patients shows abnormally low chromosome numbers, defined as hypodiploidy, in leukemic cells. Hypodiploidy with less than 40 chromosomes is a rare genetic abnormality in B-ALL and is associated to an extremely poor outcome, with low survival rates both in pediatric and adult cases. In this review, we describe the main clinical and genetic features of hypodiploid B-ALL subtypes with less than 40 chromosomes, the current treatment protocols and their clinical outcomes. Additionally, we discuss the potential cellular mechanisms involved on the origin of hypodiploidy, as well as its leukemogenic impact. Studies aiming to decipher the biological mechanisms involved in hypodiploid subtypes of B-ALL with less than 40 chromosomes are crucial to improve the poor survival rates in these patients. ABSTRACT: Hypodiploidy with less than 40 chromosomes is a rare genetic abnormality in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). This condition can be classified based on modal chromosome number as low-hypodiploidy (30–39 chromosomes) and near-haploidy (24–29 chromosomes), with unique cytogenetic and mutational landscapes. Hypodiploid B-ALL with <40 chromosomes has an extremely poor outcome, with 5-year overall survival rates below 50% and 20% in childhood and adult B-ALL, respectively. Accordingly, this genetic feature represents an adverse prognostic factor in B-ALL and is associated with early relapse and therapy refractoriness. Notably, half of all patients with hypodiploid B-ALL with <40 chromosomes cases ultimately exhibit chromosome doubling of the hypodiploid clone, resulting in clones with 50–78 chromosomes. Doubled clones are often the major clones at diagnosis, leading to “masked hypodiploidy”, which is clinically challenging as patients can be erroneously classified as hyperdiploid B-ALL. Here, we summarize the main cytogenetic and molecular features of hypodiploid B-ALL subtypes, and provide a brief overview of the diagnostic methods, standard-of-care treatments and overall clinical outcome. Finally, we discuss molecular mechanisms that may underlie the origin and leukemogenic impact of hypodiploidy and may open new therapeutic avenues to improve survival rates in these patients.