CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF IMMUNOPHENOTYPE AND CROSS-LINEAGE EXPRESSION OF ACUTE LEUKEMIA

Objective:To study the clinical significance and characteristic of acute leukemia (AL) immunophenotype and cross lineage expression. Methods:128 patients with AL were investigated by immunophenotyping with 16 monoclonal antibodies. Results:According to the antigen expression ,they could be classified into three subgroups: (1) lineage specific expression; (2) cross lineage expression; (3) “null cell”type. The incidence of lineage specific expression in ANLL and ALL was 73.3 % and 78.9 % respectively , which was the highest . “null cell”type was the lowest , which was 6.7 % and 5.3 % , the incidence of cross lineage expression in ANLL and ALL was 20.0 % and 15.8 %.In ANLL with CD + 7 or B lymphocytic lineage antigen expression,the CR rate was lower,while the incidence of p170 expression was higher than that with the lineage specific expression.Conclusion:(1) AL immunophenotype might be classified into three subgroups:lineage specific expression;cross lineage expression and “null cell”type.(2) Higher p170 expression and lower CR rate was seen in the patients with cross lineage expression than that with lineage specific expression.