title: Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in childhood: cell proliferation without rest.
abstract: The percentage of non-cycling blast cells in children with untreated acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) was investigated by staining smears for statin, a nuclear protein specifically present in non-growing resting cells. Results were compared with purified normal CD34-positive progenitors. A low fraction of ALL and CD34-positive cells expressed statin (2.9 +/- 3.8% and 2.8 +/- 3.1%, respectively), the growth fraction assessed by staining for the nucleolar antigen p120 was 94% in both ALL and CD34-positive cell samples. From this analysis it can be concluded that the compartment of non-replicating cells in ALL as well as in normal CD34-positive precursor cells collected from peripheral blood is very small and that most cells are cycling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, University of Berne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hirt
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Antic
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Lüthy
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Leibundgut
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: von der Weid
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tobler
authors.forename: H P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Wagner
mesh_terms: D002455:Cell Division; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D015458:Leukemia, T-Cell / Q000473:pathology; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology; D015452:Precursor B-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000473:pathology; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000473:pathology*