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Updated: Aug 10, 2026
Comprehensive Protocol to Sample and Process Bone Marrow for Measuring Measurable Residual Disease and Leukemic Stem Cells in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Published on: March 5, 2018
[Immunophenotyping in acute leukemia: detection of minimal residual disease]
K Pálóczi1, S Nahajevszky, K Jakab
1Semmelweis Egyetem, Budapest, Egészségtudományi Kar, Immunológiai Tanszék.
Insights
Immunophenotyping enhances acute leukemia classification, aiding in the diagnosis of rare subtypes and monitoring minimal residual disease. Molecular methods are recommended for definitive residual disease detection post-treatment.
Area of Science:
- Hematology
- Oncology
- Immunology
Context:
- Acute leukemia classification relies on accurate immunophenotyping for reproducibility.
- Identifying poorly differentiated subtypes and lineage association is crucial for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL).
- Immunological studies are vital for detecting biphenotypic leukemias and AML with lymphoid markers.
Purpose:
- To evaluate the utility of immunophenotyping in classifying acute leukemias.
- To assess the role of immunophenotyping in monitoring minimal residual disease (MRD).
- To compare immunophenotyping with cytogenetics and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for acute leukemia assessment.
Summary:
- Immunophenotyping of bone marrow samples from 42 AML and 13 ALL patients was analyzed before and after treatment.
- The study assessed patients using immunophenotyping, cytogenetics, and PCR.
- Immunophenotyping improved the sensitive definition of acute leukemia relapse.
Impact:
- Immunophenotyping improves diagnostic accuracy and reproducibility in acute leukemia.
- Immunophenotyping aids in identifying challenging subtypes and monitoring treatment response.
- While immunophenotyping is sensitive for relapse detection, molecular genetic methods are recommended for confirming residual disease elimination.
Abstract:
Immunophenotyping improves both accuracy and reproducibility of the acute leukaemia classification and is considered particularly useful for identifying poorly differentiated subtypes of acute myeloid leukaemia and lineage association of acute lymphoid leukaemia. Immunological studies of leukaemic blasts has become critical also identifying biphenotypic leukaemias and acute myeloid leukaemia expressing lymphoid associated markers. At present, while the prognostic value of individual antigen expressions is still controversial, the immunologic detection of minimal residual disease seems to be important in monitoring the acute leukaemia patients in remission. In the present study immunophenotyping of bone marrow samples of 42 patients with acute myeloid leukaemia and 13 patients with acute lymphoid leukaemia was analysed. Patients were assessed both before and after treatment by immunophenotyping, cytogenetics and polymerase chain reaction amplification. The immunophenotyping have allowed more sensitive definition of acute leukaemia relapse, but molecular genetic methods are recommended for detection of elimination of residual disease.
