Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 26, 2026
Comprehensive Protocol to Sample and Process Bone Marrow for Measuring Measurable Residual Disease and Leukemic Stem Cells in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Published on: March 5, 2018
c-Kit receptor (CD117) expression on myeloblasts and white blood cell counts in acute myeloid leukemia
Jolanta Woźniak1, Joanna Kopeć-Szlezak
1Department of Physiopathology, Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, Warsaw, Poland. jolwoz@poczta.onet.pl
Background:
The c-Kit receptor is considered to play a crucial role in hematopoiesis. Induction of mobilization of hematopoietic cells in the bone marrow requires cooperative signaling through c-Kit and c-Kit ligand pathway, and these interactions are important in the retention of stem cells within the bone marrow. Therefore, we analyzed c-Kit density on the leukemic myeloblasts of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in relation to white blood cell count (WBC) in the peripheral blood.
Methods:
Bone marrow aspirates collected from patients with AML and bone marrow aspirates and leukapheresis products after granulocyte colony-stimulating factor blood mobilization from adult volunteers were studied. To determine the level of c-Kit receptor expression, we applied quantitative (relative fluorescence intensity and antibody binding per cell) cytometric methods.
Results:
Our data showed negative correlation between the level of c-Kit expression intensity on myeloblasts and the number of leukocytes in blood of AML patients. The c-Kit receptor density on myeloblasts in patients with low WBC was significantly stronger than that on myeloblasts in patients with high WBC. In the latter patient group, the density c-Kit receptor on myeloblasts was similar to that on CD34(+) cells in mobilized peripheral blood.
Conclusions:
The obtained data suggest an involvement of c-Kit receptor in the regulation of leukemic myeloblasts egress to the peripheral blood.
