Human granulocyte-specific nuclear antigen(s). II. Detection of antigens in human proliferative syndromes

Antisera raised to dehistonized chromatin from isolated normal human granulocytes revealed the presence of chromatin-associated antigens specific for the human neutrophils that appear during late stages of myeloid cellular differentiation. Immunological specificity was demonstrated by C fixation, immunodiffusion, and immunocytochemical reactions. Chromatin prepared from both normal granulocytes and specimens of myeloid leukemia showed immunologic reactivity. Although the normal antigens were detected in a specimen of CML, the position of immunodiffusion precipitin lines was different from that obtained with normal granulocyte chromatin. In addition, chromatin prepared from the myeloid leukemic cell line HL-60 expressed only one of the three precipitin bands normally found in immunodiffusion. The immunocytochemical staining reaction was confined to the nucleus of mature neutrophils in normal peripheral blood smears. Greater than 90% of cells in peripheral blood specimens of CML showed positive immunocytochemical nuclear staining. In other types of leukaemia, the normal mature granulocyte reacted with antiserum, but the nonmyeloid leukemic cells in these specimens did not. The specificity of immunologic reactions described here suggests the usefulness of nuclear antigens as cell markers.