Acute myeloid leukaemia of mixed megakaryocytic and erythroid origin: a case report and review of the literature.
We report the case of a 78-year-old man who presented with acute myeloid leukaemia showing subpopulations of cells expressing platelet-associated markers and the presence of a pan-myeloid component, besides glycophorin A-positive cells. Most of the immature cells had a proerythroblast-like morphology and we classified this case as an FAB-M6 variant, as suggested by Bain (1). According to the WHO classification, this leukaemia fulfilled the criteria of'AML with multilineage dysplasia' (2). Immunophenotyping characteristics showed two distinct aberrant subpopulations, a young pan-myeloid (CD45+ with low density, CD34+, CD117+, CD13+, CD33+, partial cytoplasmic myeloperoxidase (MPO)+) population with platelet-associated markers (CD41+, CD42+, CD61+) and a CD45+, CD117+, CD34- population with partial CD235a positivity indicative for erythroid maturation. This case belongs to the group of 'early' erythroblastic leukaemias where a subset of progenitor cells present with erythroid-megakaryocyte bipotentiality or are blocked at an early BFU-E (burst-forming unit erythrocyte)-like stage of erythroid differentiation (11, 12, 13).
Daniëls
L
L
Laboratory of Haematology, Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium. danielslies@hotmail.com
Guerti
K
K
Vermeulen
K
K
De Raeve
H
H
Van Assche
E
E
Van de Velde
A L
AL
Berneman
Z N
ZN
Van Der Planken
M
M
D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D004915:Leukemia, Erythroblastic, Acute / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D007947:Leukemia, Megakaryoblastic, Acute / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male