c-fms expression in acute leukemias with complex phenotypes

The c-fms proto-oncogene product, which is the receptor for the macrophage colony-stimulating factor CSF-1, is always found expressed in acute myeloid leukemia cells, irrespective of their stage of differentiation according to the FAB classification (Dubreuil P, Torrès H, Courcoul M, Birg F, Mannoni P. Blood 1988;72:1081-1085). We have extended this study and looked for c-fms expression in poorly differentiated myeloid leukemias, in a series of acute leukemias of either T or B origin and in biphenotypic leukemias. We now report that expression of c-fms is still related to the myeloid origin of the leukemic proliferation, but that it can also be found in some acute leukemias presenting clonal rearrangements of the T cell receptor gene. Thus expression of the c-fms/CSF-1 receptor may not be exclusively a marker for myeloid proliferations.