Haematogones in the peripheral blood of adults: a four-colour flow cytometry study of 102 patients

Br J Haematol. 2004 Jul;126(2):209-12. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2141.2004.05011.x.

Abstract

Haematogones have been extensively characterized in bone marrow, but not in the peripheral blood (PB). We studied 102 PB samples from adult patients with a sensitive flow cytometry method. Sixty-six of 102 samples (65%) contained detectable haematogones, ranging from 0.01% to 1.3% of white blood cells (median 0.06%, mean 0.13%). Of 66 cases with complete blood count data, 51 had absolute haematogone counts of 0.00037-0.105 x 10(9)/l (median 0.0054 x 10(9)/l, mean 0.012 x 10(9)/l). PB haematogones belonged exclusively to the most mature maturational stage. These findings have implications for PB analysis of minimal residual disease in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and follicular lymphoma.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Antigens, CD20 / analysis
  • B-Lymphocytes*
  • Blood Cell Count
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Female
  • Flow Cytometry / methods
  • Humans
  • Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / immunology*
  • Leukocyte Count
  • Lymphoma, Follicular / immunology*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoplasm, Residual / immunology
  • Neprilysin / analysis
  • Stem Cells*

Substances

  • Antigens, CD20
  • Neprilysin