[Clinical and immunophenotyping features of CD34-positive acute nonlymphoblastic leukemia]

Antigen CD34 and other markers of cell membrane were investigated in cells from 43 patients with primary acute nonlymphoblastic leukemia (ANLL) by immunofluorescence test. The blast cells of 13 patients (30.2%) expressed antigen CD34. The patients with positive CD34 were no significantly different from the remaining 30 patients with negative CD34 with respect to age, serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), hemoglobin, white blood cell count, platelet count and the proportion of blast cells in blood and bone marrow, but their blasts were more likely to express HLA-DR, CD38, CD7 and lack of CD15 antigen. These patients had FAB M1 or M5a morphologic characteristics and lower complete remission (CR) rate. This result demonstrated that CD34 positive ANLL is poorly differentiated.