Acta Med. 2025, 68: 50-57

https://doi.org/10.14712/18059694.2025.19

Comparative Analysis of Immaturity CD Markers Expression between Pediatric and Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Insights and Implications for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Strategies

Ihsan Mardan Al-Badrana, Ahmed Mardan Al-Badranb

aDepartment of Pathology and Forensic Medicine, Al-Zahraa College of Medicine, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq
bDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Basra Oncology Center, Basra Directorate of Health, Basrah, Iraq

Received December 24, 2024
Accepted June 25, 2025

Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the expression levels of different immaturity CD markers in diverse subtypes of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) among children and adults, and determine any statistically significant variations in marker expression between these two groups. Methods: This dataset included CD marker expressions (CD34, HLA-DR, TdT, and CD38) for 130 ALL patients (51 pediatric B-ALL, 16 pediatric T-ALL, 44 adult B-ALL, and 19 adult T-ALL patients). The Shapiro-Wilk test analysis was conducted to check for normality distribution in all data points before proceeding with the statistical analysis test. As a result for each marker within these subtypes, descriptive statistics were calculated. Independent samples t-tests were initially conducted to compare mean expression levels of CD markers between groups. Moreover, since non-normal distributions are likely to occur, Mann-Whitney U tests were used for Pediatric T-ALL and Adult T-ALL. Results: Descriptive analysis indicated variability in CD marker expression levels among the different subtypes of ALL. Both t-tests and Mann-Whitney U tests revealed statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) in the expression levels of CD markers between pediatric and adult groups, or between B-ALL and T-ALL groups. Conclusion: Significant differences have been identified using different analysis methods across the studied groups. The investigation analyzes the expression levels of CD34, HLA-DR CD38, and TdT within pediatric B-ALL patients and pediatric T-ALL patients along with adult B-ALL patients and adult T-ALL patients. The patterns need appreciation because they might reveal biological differences at their base which influence disease development and both treatment results and patient survival outcomes.

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