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Updated: Aug 18, 2026
Flow Cytometry to Estimate Leukemia Stem Cells in Primary Acute Myeloid Leukemia and in Patient-derived-xenografts, at Diagnosis and Follow Up
Published on: March 26, 2018
[Studies on cell kinetics in leukemia using flow cytometry]
Abstract:
Cell kinetics were studied in human leukemia (acute leukemia, chronic myelocytic leukemia and other myelocytic malignancies) and in mouse leukemia (L 1210 cells). Flow cytometry method was employed for the analysis of DNA distribution of cells stained with propidium iodide, using a cytofluorograf (System 50, Ortho Instruments). The DNA per cell frequency distribution histograms (DNA histogram) in normal human lymphocytes from peripheral blood showed one main peak of diploid, which corresponded to the DNA from cells in G1 phase of the cell cycle, and other small portions, which corresponded to the DNA from cells in S, G2 and M compartments (S + G2 + M). The percentage of the number of cells in the S + G2 + M phase to the total cells from normal controls was 2.1%. In the case of untreated acute myelocytic leukemia (AML), the percentages of cells in the S + G2 + M phase from peripheral blood and bone marrow were 2.4% and 7.1%, respectively. In bone marrow from treated AML, the percentage of cells in the S + G2 + M phase increased to 14.8%. In the case of untreated acute lymphocytic leukemia, the percentages of the S + G2 + M phase from peripheral blood and bone marrow were 1.9% and 7.1%, respectively. After the treatment of chronic myelocytic leukemia, the percentages of the S + G2 + M phase in peripheral blood and bone marrow were 5.8% and 12.2%, respectively. The DNA histogram in untreated L 1210 cells showed two peaks. One of the peak was consisted of the DNA from cells in G1 phase and another was from cells in the S + G2 + M phase. The proportion of the S + G2 + M phase in the L 1210 cells treated with antitumor drugs significantly increased compared to the untreated cells. The findings indicate that the increase in the proportion of the S + G2 + M phase in the cells from treated human leukemia was a result of the therapeutic effects of antitumor drugs. The study of cell kinetics may provide benefits to know the effect of antitumor drugs during the treatment of human leukemia.
