Yang L, Chen WM, Dao FT, et al. - Among 66 t(8;21) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients, researchers assessed aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity at diagnosis as well as its individual prognostic role. They also investigated how relapse is influenced by the combination of ALDH activity at diagnosis and minimal residual disease (MRD). For a median of 20 (1-34) months, 52 patients were observed. In the entire cohort and adult patients, they found significant associations of CD34+ALDH+-H, CD34+CD38-ALDH+-H, and CD34+CD38+ALDH+-H statuses (the percentage of cells that were higher than the individual cutoffs) with a lower 2-year relapse-free survival rate. They concluded that an improved MRD-based risk stratification in t(8;21) AML may be achieved with the help of ALDH status at diagnosis. Relapse predictors, identified in this study, were concurrent high levels of CD34+ALDH+ at diagnosis and MRD.