title: Phenotypic evaluation of chronic myeloid leukemia.
abstract: Marrow culture studies revealed a spectrum of qualitative and quantitative defects in granulocyte-macrophage progenitors (GM-CFC) of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase and blastic crisis. Parallel culture studies and terminal transferase determinations revealed that a significant proportion of patients in blastic crisis possess two coexisting acute phase clones, one lymphoblastic and one myeloblastic. Measurement of response to and production of T cell growth factor showed that the leukemic blast cells from patients with TdT-positive blastic crisis produced the factor, but did not exhibit a proliferative response to exogenous factor. This phenotype was identical to that observed in TdT-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Additional regulatory defects were identified in CML, since leukemic GM-CFC proliferation was resistant to inhibition by concentrations of prostaglandin E, which are markedly inhibitory for normal GM-CFC. The self-renewal or recloning capacity of GM-CFC was also identified as a unique feature of some patients with CML. The addition of retinoic acid to primary cultures of leukemic GM-CFC completely abolished this recloning capacity.
mesh_terms: D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000473:pathology; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007951:Leukemia, Myeloid / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D010641:Phenotype; D011458:Prostaglandins E / Q000494:pharmacology; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D011458:Prostaglandins E; D014212:Tretinoin