Myelolactoferrin index (MLF) and myelopoiesis during bacterial infections and malignant diseases.

The myelolactoferrin index (MLF) is significantly lowered in patients with bacterial infections and with malignant diseases. In both cases it can be assumed that the alteration of the granulopoietic storage pool is followed by a decrease in lactoferrin. Therefore, it seems advisable to study (a) to what extent the immunocytochemical quantitative evaluation of lactoferrin content of mature neutrophil granulocytes can be used to recognize any toxic damage caused to bone marrow cells by long-term therapies or environmental toxins and (b) whether this method is more sensitive than the conventional counting of granulocytes and throm bocytes.