title: The nature of blast cells in myelodysplastic syndromes evolving to acute leukaemia.
abstract: The blast cells from nine patients with an overt acute leukaemia following a previous myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) are analyzed with a panel of monoclonal antibodies as well as by morphological and cytochemical criteria. By integrating the results obtained with these three approaches the leukaemia in 6 patients was assessed as myeloid-granulocytic and/or monocytic-, in two as mixed- megakaryoblastic/myeloid- and in one as lymphoid. A good correlation between morphology, cytochemistry and immunological markers was observed in 7 out of the 9 cases. In three cases a noteworthy percentage of J5+ cells was detected. The exceptional finding of lymphoid as well as megakaryocytic and myeloid transformations suggests that the target cell for these leukaemias could be a pluripotent stem cell.
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: San Miguel
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Cañizo
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Anta
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hernández
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Borrasca
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000753:Anemia, Refractory / Q000473:pathology; D000754:Anemia, Refractory, with Excess of Blasts / Q000473:pathology; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000473:pathology*; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D000954:Antigens, Surface