Certain protocols use additional variables to track patients to greater or lesser aggressive treatments. Immunophenotype describes immunological characterization of the malignant white blood cell population. The B-lymphocytes lineage ALL cells derive when an uncommitted stem cell flounders somewhere in the pathway to becoming a mature B type plasma cell. Of these, CD2 is associated with a more favorable prognosis. T-cell ALL and is often associated with certain diagnostic variables, such as male sex, older age, leukocytosis, and mediastinal mass.
Leukemic cells are also classified according to morphology .
Each case of childhood ALL does not arise from the same genetic mutation. The DNA which are responsible for the malignancy vary from one patient to another. When the chromosomes of ALL are studied, a variety of deletions, insertions, translocations, and inversions are found. Most patients with ALL have characteristic abnormalities, but the list of these is long. Certain chromosomal aberrations indicate a more or less virulent leukemia, and have been incorporated into the treatment planning choice of some of the clinical trials.