Is alkaline phosphatase the smoking gun for highly refractory primitive leukemic cells?

With the aim to detect candidate malignant primitive progenitor populations, we modified an original alkaline phosphatase (ALP) stem cell detection method based on the identification of alkaline phosphatase fluorescent cells in combination with flow cytometry immunophenotyping. Over a period of one year, we have been using this technique to study its activity in patients with leukemia and lymphoma, showing that changes in the alkaline phosphatase levels can be used to detect rare populations of highly refractory malignant cells. By screening different blood cancers, we have observed that this activity is not always restricted to CD34+ leukemic cells, and can be overexpressed in CD34 negative leukemia. We have verified that this method gives accurate and reproducible measurements and our preliminary results suggest that CD34+/ALPhigh cells appear to sustain leukemogenesis over time.