Reactivity pattern of 'myeloid monoclonal antibodies' with emphasis on MCS-2

The reactivity pattern of the murine monoclonal antibody (MoAb) MCS-2 was tested on a panel of 724 cases of leukemia-lymphoma. MCS-2 was positive in 178/185 (96%) cases of AML (FAB M1-3), 10/10 cases of AMMol/AMoL (FAB M4/5), 42/45 (93%) cases of CML, 1/1 case of CMoL, 37/38 (97%) cases of CML-myeloid blast crisis, 0/9 cases of CML-lymphoid blast crisis. No positive staining was seen in 238 cases of T-CLL, mycosis fungoides, Sèzary-syndrome, B-CLL, hairy cell leukemia, multiple myeloma and T- and B-lymphoma nor in 32 cases of B-ALL, Burkitt-lymphoma, Null-ALL and immature T-lymphoma. A positive expression was found in 8/110 cases of cALL, 1/6 cases of pre B-ALL and 1/35 cases of T-ALL. Fifteen other MoAbs (MCS-1, OKM1, My-1, Leu-M1, Leu-M3, CA-2-38, MY4, MY7, MY8, MY9, VIM-D2, VIM-D5, Mol, Mo2, 63D3) which are associated with the myelomonocytic cell lineages were tested by indirect immunofluorescence on 60 or more patients (62-149 cases). A wide variability in the frequency of positivity was seen for the panel of cases studied and for the blast cell populations per individual samples: 21-96% of the AML cases (FAB M1-3) and 31-100% of the AMMoL/AMoL cases (FAB M4/5) were positive for the various MoAbs. None of the analysed MoAbs stained only myelocytic or only monocytic leukemias, but a certain degree of preference for the monocytic variants was noted for Leu-M3, CA-2-38, MY4, VIM-D2, Mo2 and 63D3. The detection of MCS-2 on immature ALL blast cells might indicate a coexpression of lymphoid and myeloid markers on very immature cells, or an abnormal gene expression by malignant cells, or the identification of a so far undetected subclass of acute leukemias.