To determine whether acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a clonal disease and to define the pattern of differentiation shown by the involved progenitor cells, we studied the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) types in the cells of 19 girls heterozygous for this X chromosome-linked enzyme.
Three patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and heterozygous for the Mediterranean variant of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) have been investigated with the 2-deoxyglucose-6-phosphate (2dG6P) method to determine the number and type of progenitor cells in which the disease arose.