Ultrastructural analysis of normal and leukaemic cells by the immunogold method and monoclonal antibodies.

Abstract

Morphological and membrane marker analysis of the leukaemic cells are useful for the diagnosis and Classification of human leukaemias. A combination of immunological and electron microscope (EM) techniques can now be carried out by using electron-dense tracers such as colloidal gold particles to visualise the reaction with a monoclonal antibody (MoAb)-immunogold method (IGM) [1]. Application of this technique has allowed the characterization of distinct T lymphocyte subpopulations in normal blood [2, 3]. In this study we analyse by this method the expression of various lineage-specific membrane antigens in normal haemopoietic precursor cells and in blast cells from patients with acute leukaemia and blast crisis from chronic granulocytic leukaemia (CGL) and myelofibrosis (MF) to see if a more precise characterisation of the immature cells can be made.