Study of antigenic profile of blasts in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: Flow cytometric analysis of 152 cases

The aim of this study was to characterize the antigenic profile of blasts in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and to determine possible phenotypic aberrancies in a series of 152 patients with acute leukaemia diagnosed non myeloid leukaemia in cytology. Samples were analyzed by EPICS XL flow cytometer (Beckman Coulter) after staining with monoclonal antibodies (Beckman Coulter). Based on criteria of EGIL (European Group of Immunological Leukaemia), cases were classified as: acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL, 52, 6%); 75% cases of ALL belong to lymphoid B lineage. 80% of ALL B were CD10 positive, marker of best prognosis. In 10, 5% of cases, biphenotypic leukaemia is diagnosed (lymphoid/myeloid). In 25% of cases aberrancies in phenotype were found. Flow cytometry has wide field of applications to characterize blast cells from patients with acute leukaemia: to establish diagnosis of lineage responsible in proliferation, to determine the stage of maturation, to predict prognosis for a better adaptation of adequate treatment, to follow evolution of disease after chemotherapy and to study minimal residual disease.