Clinical relevance of blast cell phenotype as determined with monoclonal antibodies in acute lymphoblastic leukemia of adults.

Abstract

Over the past 10 years, leukemias and lymphomas have been analyzed extensively with antibodies and for enzyme activity [1, 2]. More recently, the introduction of monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) has improved dramatically the precision, practicability, and standardization of immunophenotyping. Meanwhile, immunologic analysis of leukemia cells has become routine clinical practice, and evidence that cell typing with antibodies contributes to final diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and classification of leukemias is compelling [3].