Immunophenotyping for Haematologists – Principles and Practice, by Barbara J Bain and Mike Leach, Wiley Blackwell, 2021; ISBN 9781119606116

Abstract

This is a deceptively slim volume. The experienced authorship team has skilfully and succinctly distilled a comprehensive wealth of information into four well organised and extensively referenced sections. An introductory chapter outlines the principles behind the methods of flow cytometric immunophenotyping of liquid specimens and immunohistochemical investigation of tissue sections. It reviews the uses of flow cytometry beyond the diagnosis and monitoring of haematological neoplasms, including the investigation of inherited and acquired red cell, platelet and immune function/dysregulation disorders, as well as differential cell counting and enumeration. There follows a useful reference chapter listing all of the individual antibodies in routine laboratory use for diagnosis and monitoring, in the order of their cluster designation (CD) number for those that have them, followed in a logical order by those which do not. A brief description for each is given of their expression in normal and neoplastic cells. The third chapter reviews the patterns of expected cellular antigen expression in haematological neoplasms, systematically following the order of the WHO classification of tumours of haematopoietic and lymphoid tissues (2017). It includes a section on the immunophenotypic assessment of ‘minimal residual disease’ (MRD) – perhaps, as the authors suggest, more appropriately termed ‘measurable residual disease’. Finally a ‘test yourself’ chapter uses a mixture of different types of multiple-choice questions and clinic-pathological cases which covers the whole field comprehensively and enables the identification of gaps in knowledge. This book is a superb resource for medical and scientific staff in training, especially those who are taking FRCPath or equivalent examinations, and for those of us who teach them, as well as for practising haematologists involved in the interpretation of immunophenotyping results.