[Functional criteria for differentiating blast cells in acute leukemia]

Eighty nine patients were examined that had various clinical-morphological forms of acute leukosis, the phagocytic activity of leukosis cells being determined and the synthesis and secretion of lysozyme by them followed up, reflected in its serum level. Leukosis cells of monoblast type were established to have the ability to ingest staphylococci, candida and particles of latex, as well as to synthesize lysozyme, confirmed by the highly elevated enzyme quantity in the sera of the patients. Those functional manifestations are proposed to be used as additional criteria in the determination of cellular type of leukosis proliferation.