Surface phenotype of clonogenic cells in acute myeloid leukemia defined by
monoclonal antibodies
B Lange, D Ferrero, S Pessano, A Palumbo, J Faust, P Meo and G Rovera
Colony-forming cells in ten cases of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) were
studied with six cytotoxic monoclonal antibodies that react with antigens
expressed at discrete stages of differentiation of normal and leukemic
hematopoietic cells. The reactivity of the whole leukemic population was
measured by indirect immunofluorescence, and the reactivity of the
colony-forming cells was established by complement- mediated cytotoxicity
and by fluorescence activated cell sorting. Comparison of the
immunofluorescent reactivity with cytotoxicity and cell sorting showed that
colony-forming cells were found within a fraction of the leukemic
subpopulations that expresses these antigens. This finding implies that
immunofluorescence reactivity of the total leukemic population does not
necessarily predict the phenotype of the clonogenic cells. When the surface
phenotype of the clonogenic leukemic cells was compared to that previously
established for normal marrow hemopoietic clonogenic cells, several
patterns were seen: (1) in four of ten cases, the clonogenic cells
expressed a phenotype like that of relatively mature normal
granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming cells (late CFU-GM) or, (2) in two
cases, a phenotype similar to the less mature colony-forming cells (early
CFU-GM or CFU-GEMM), and (3) in four cases, a composite phenotype of early
and late CFU-GM. Thus, the level of impairment of differentiation in AML
may vary from case to case. In those cases phenotypically similar to the
late CFU-GM, it may be possible to separate leukemic clonogenic cells from
less mature normal clonogenic cells using monoclonal antibodies selectively
cytotoxic for the late CFU-GM.
Volume 64,
Issue 3,
pp. 693-700,
09/01/1984
Copyright © 1984 by The American Society of Hematology
