The most common cancer in children is acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer of lymphocyte precursor cells (lymphoblasts). This leukemia often has recurrent large genetic mutations that predict patient outcome, allowing patients with poor outcome to be identified and treated with more intensive therapy. These large mutations have provided insight into mechanisms that cause leukemia and have helped identify specific proteins for targeted therapy. These mutations and their potential mechanisms and more recently discovered smaller mutations will be discussed in this article.
