title: Cells with annular nucleus in haemopathic patients.
abstract: Cells with annular nucleus (CAN) were observed in the bone marrow of patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), sideroblastic anaemia (SA) and megaloblastic anaemia (MA), and in particular in the bone marrow (7/31) and in the peripheral blood (16/31) of patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML). CAN were seen in only one out of four splenectomized CML patients and the number of CAN in the bone marrow (0.5-1.5%) was smaller than that in peripheral blood (0.5-5%); these data suggest that in CML peripheral blood CAN might be derived from the spleen. CAN were identified as neutrophilic myelocytes, but in a few cases they were characterized also as eosinophilic or monocytic cells. In only one case of CML an agar culture from peripheral blood cells led to the presence of circulating colony forming cells (CFC) capable of generating monocytic and eosinophilic CAN in cultures. Morphocytochemical anomalies were observed in CAN in some cases. Occasionally together with neutrophilic CAN there were neutrophilic metamyelocytes and granulocytes with annular nuclei, suggesting an intrinsic difficulty of CAN to undergo the normal process of segmentation.
mesh_terms: D000740:Anemia / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D006402:Hematologic Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology; D008206:Lymphatic Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology*