Immuno-histological analysis of bone marrow involvement in lymphoproliferative disorders

Cryostat sections from bone marrow biopsies submerged in gum-sucrose solution and snap-frozen can be stained with various antisera to detect both the membrane and cytoplasmic antigens on normal and malignant populations in their tissue environments. This technique seems to be the method of choice to analyse the degree of BM involvement in cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma where conventional histology provides equivocal results. The uniform expression of only one type of light chain in B lymphoma and the analysis of the T cell infiltrate in T-CLL using monoclonal antibodies is demonstrated.