A comparison of surface marker analysis and FAB classification in acute myeloid leukemia

Surface marker analysis with rosette tests and a large panel of xenoantisera and monoclonal antibodies was done on the malignant cells of 55 patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The diagnosis was made on morphological and cytochemical grounds, and the leukemias were classified according to the quantified FAB criteria. The marker tests included the E- and EA-rosette test, immunofluorescence with rabbit-polyclonal antisera against human Ig, kappa, and lambda light chains, thymocytes, granulocytes, erythrocytes, platelets, lysozyme, (leukemic) myeloblasts, the common ALL antigen, SB cell-line cells (anti-Ia), and a mouse anti-Ia serum. The monoclonal mouse antibodies applied were anti-T-cell antibody (3A1), two anti-granulocyte-monocyte antibodies (OKM1 and B2.12), four antigranulocyte antibodies (MI/N1, UJ 308, B4.3, and B13.9), an antiplatelet antibody (C17.28), anti-HLA heavy chains (w6/32.HLK), anti-Ia antigen (OKI1), and OKT10. AML cells from many patients lacked the expression of myeloid markers, and we found that a correlation existed between the relative maturity of the leukemia subtype and the extent of positivity for these markers. Surface marker analysis discriminated poorly between the "myeloid" and "monocytoid" subtypes; OKT10 and the "T-cell marker" 3A1 were often expressed on AML cells. In two cases of AML, there was an unexpected expression of platelet antigens with the monoclonal antiplatelet antibody. One of them, classified as M1, was ultrastructurally a megakaryoblastic proliferation with a positive reaction for platelet peroxidase. Only with the help of computerized analysis, was it possible to prove a clear correlation between the surface marker profile and the FAB classification.