Heterogeneity of acute myeloblastic leukemia without maturation: an ultrastructural study

We demonstrated by ultrastructural examination that the leukemic blasts of 13 patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) without maturation (M1 in the French-American-British classification) showed heterogeneous features. In 7 patients, the leukemic blasts had a high level of light microscopic myeloperoxidase positivity (> 50%). Ultrastructurally, the cells were myeloblast-promyelocytes with 100% myeloperoxidase positivity, and these 7 patients appeared to have typical AML. In contrast, the remaining 6 patients had leukemic blasts with a low myeloperoxidase positivity (< 50%) and heterogeneous features. Three had ultrastructural features of myelomonocytic or monocytic lineage, 1 had myelomonocytic cells associated with megakaryoblasts, and 1 had undifferentiated blasts. The former group had a better prognosis than the latter, indicating that ultrastructural analysis of M1 leukemia may help predict the response to therapy.