Recategorizing childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia with monoclonal
antibodies to human T cells
PM Sondel, W Borcherding, NT Shahidi, DJ Ganick, JC Schultz and R Hong
The lymphoblasts of three patients with childhood acute lymphoblastic
leukemia (ALL) were analyzed for their immunologic surface markers. Blasts
from two of these patients did not form rosettes with sheep erythrocytes
and the third did so marginally, suggesting these patients had non-T-cell
leukemia. These blasts were also tested with monoclonal antibodies that
detect thymocyte differentiation markers, and all three patients were
highly reactive with at least two of these reagents. We anticipate the
availability of multiple standardized monoclonal reagents will necessitate
a recategorization of ALL phenotypes. Some of these leukemic phenotypes may
not correspond to normal stages of lymphoid differentiation. Therefore, we
suggest that it may be inappropriate to attempt to identify and categorize
leukemic cells by the pathways of normal differentiation.
Volume 57,
Issue 6,
pp. 1135-1137,
06/01/1981
Copyright © 1981 by The American Society of Hematology
