Sequential surface marker and cytokinetic studies on individual cells from children with acute lymphoid leukemia.

Sequential immunological and cytokinetic studies were done on individual lymphoid cells in the peripheral blood of 10 children with previously untreated acute lymphoid leukemia (8 non-T--non-B, 1 T, and 1 B-ALL) and on lymphoid bone marrow cells (4 non-T--non-B ALL). The results obtained suggest that some, but not all, of the children considered to have non-T--non-B ALL had proliferating leukemic cells with surface immunoglobulin (Sig) in the peripheral blood. The absolute number of these SIg+ proliferating leukemic cells, however, was always smaller than the absolute number of SIg- proliferating leukemic cells. A similar observation was made in the child with B-ALL. On the other hand, in the blood of the child with T-ALL, no SIg+ proliferating leukemic cells were detected. The results indicate that sequential analyses of different parameters on single cells might permit a more precise investigation of relations between cell proliferation and cell differentiation or of interactions between normal and neoplastic lymphoid cells.