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Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Flow Cytometry to Estimate Leukemia Stem Cells in Primary Acute Myeloid Leukemia and in Patient-derived-xenografts, at Diagnosis and Follow Up
Published on: March 26, 2018
Diagnosis of hairy cell leukemia by flow cytometry
Maryalice Stetler-Stevenson1, Prashant R Tembhare
1Flow Cytometry Unit, Laboratory of Pathology, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. stetler@mail.nih.gov
Abstract:
Flow cytometric immunophenotpying (FCI) is a vital tool in the diagnosis of hairy cell leukemia (HCL). HCL has a distinctive immunophenotype based upon staining with antibodies to CD5 (negative), CD10 (negative), CD23 (negative), CD20 (abnormally bright), CD22 (abnormally bright), CD11c (abnormally bright), CD25 (abnormally bright), CD103 (positive), and CD123 (positive). Due to this unique immunophenotype, FCI can differentiate malignant hairy cells from normal B-cells and other lymphoproliferative disorders, especially the morphologically similar hairy cell leukemia variant and splenic lymphoma with villous lymphocytes. FCI is extremely sensitive in the detection of minimal disease and is useful in monitoring response to therapy.

