Background Studies on mitochondrial DNA copy number reveal an increase or decrease in copy number that appears to be cancer specific, but data on acute lymphoblastic leukemia have been inconsistent regarding the significance of changes in mitochondrial DNA copies. The purpose of this pilot study was to analyze mitochondrial DNA copy number and mitochondrial DNA integrity. Procedure Copy number and mitochondrial deletion ratios were estimated in the bone marrow of 51 patients and peripheral blood of 30 healthy controls using quantitative real-time PCR. The copy number values were correlated with prognostic markers in patients. Results Significantly increased mitochondrial DNA copy number (P-value
