T-cell transcription factor GATA-3 is an immunophenotypic marker of acute leukemias with T-cell differentiation

Publication date: Available online 24 May 2017
Source:Human Pathology
Author(s): David M. Dorfman, Elizabeth A. Morgan, Ashley Pelton, Christine Unitt
T cell transcription factor GATA-3, known to play a role in early T cell development and in the development of T cell neoplasms, is expressed at high levels in fetal and adult thymus, as well as in acute leukemias with T-cell differentiation, including T lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma (22/22 cases), early T cell precursor (ETP) lymphoblastic leukemia (11/11 cases), and mixed phenotype acute leukemia, T/myeloid (4/5 cases), but only rarely in acute myeloid leukemia/myeloid sarcoma (1/36 cases), and not in B lymphoblastic leukemia (0/16 cases). In contrast, T-bet, the other T cell transcription factor that controls Th1/Th2 T cell fate, is not expressed to any significant extent in immature thymocytes or in cases of T lymphoblastic leukemia or acute myeloid leukemia/myeloid sarcoma, but is expressed in the majority of cases (15/16) of B lymphoblastic leukemia and in biphenotypic acute leukemia, B/myeloid. GATA-3-positive acute leukemias with T-cell differentiation were also found to express proto-oncogene C-MYC, in an average of 52% of neoplastic cells, which, along with GATA-3 may contribute to leukemogenesis, as suggested by transgenic mouse models. We conclude that GATA-3 is a sensitive and specific marker for the diagnosis of acute leukemias with T-cell differentiation, and may be a useful addition to the panel of immunophenotypic markers for the diagnostic evaluation of acute leukemias.



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