[Immunophenotypes, cytogenetics and clinical features of 192 patients with acute myeloid leukemia]

The objective of this study was to investigate the immunophenotypic subtype profiles of 192 patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and its association to cytogenetics and clinical features. Immunophenotyping of 192 patients was performed by flow cytometry using a panel of monoclonal antibodies. The karyotypes in 125 out of 192 cases were analyzed by G-banding technology. The results showed that CD33, CD13, myeloperoxidase (MPO) and CD117 were the most commonly expressed antigens in AML. CD117 expressed in 84.6% of AML-M3 cases. A combination of intensive autofluorescence, both CD34- and HLA-DR-, and high expression of CD13, CD33 and MPO had significant value for AML-M3 diagnosis. CD14 expressed only in AML-M4 and AML-M5, and both intensive positivity of CD64 and CD15 with high expression of HLA-DR may suggest great possibility for diagnosis of AML-M5. Lymphoid marker expression was documented in 47.9% of the 192 AML cases. CD56 (26.0%) and CD7 (20.8%) were the most commonly expressed lymphoid markers in AML patients, followed by CD19 (9.9%) and CD2 (7.3%). Abnormal karyotypes were detected in 76 out of 125 cases (60.8%). Correlation test showed that t(8;21) was found only in 17 cases of AML-M2 and strongly associated with the individual or combinational expressions of CD15/CD19/CD56. And 28 cases of t(15;17) were found in AML-M3; 2 cases of inv(16) were found in AML-M4EO. Higher CD34 positivity was found in LymAg+ group (77.2%) than that in LymAg- group (48.0%). It is concluded that immunophenotype analysis is useful for AML diagnosis and classification, and the immunophenotype has close relevance to the abnormal cytogenetic changes and clinical features in AML. The results suggested that a new prognostic scoring system that integrated the morphology, cytogenetic abnormalities and immunophenotype parameters would benefit the diagnosis, classification, and estimation of prognosis in AML patients.