[Detection of proliferative cells by DNA polymerase a as a proliferation associated marker]

Proliferative cell fractions were measured by flow cytometry in 20 patients with acute leukemia, 4 with chronic myelocytic leukemia in blastic crisis and 7 with malignant lymphoma. The cells were fixed with 2% paraformaldehyde followed by staining with fluorescein isothiocyanate conjugated monoclonal antibody against DNA polymerase a. The DNA polymerase a-positive population was widely distributed in leukemia, from 20.4% to 84.7% in peripheral blood and from 6.5% to 92.5% in the bone marrow. A positive correlation was found between the values in peripheral blood and bone marrow. The values ranged from 66.4% to 88.1% in cells from cases of malignant lymphoma. Cryopreserved cells may be available for measurement of DNA polymerase a because the result obtained in both frozen and fresh cells were essentially the same.