CELL-PROLIFERATION DETECTED BY DNA-POLYMERASE-ALPHA IN ACUTE LEUKEMIAS

Fifty-nine patients with acute leukemia were studied by flow cytometry using monoclonal antibody against DNA polymerase a. Since fresh and f rozen cells showed identical flow cytometric histograms, 86 cryopreser ved samples (39 from peripheral blood and 47 from bone marrow) were us ed in this study. The DNA polymerase alpha-positive population ranged from 16.3 to 84.7% in peripheral blood, and from 6.5 to 92.1% in bone marrow. A positive correlation (r = 0.80; p < 0.01) was found between DNA polymerase alpha-positive populations in peripheral blood and bone marrow from the same patient. This suggests that the DNA polymerase a lpha-positive population in the bone marrow can be estimated from that in peripheral blood. A negative correlation was observed between the positive population in bone marrow samples and the time to reach a nad ir (r = -0.58; p < 0.01), while a positive correlation was found betwe en the tumor cell count in bone marrow and the DNA polymerase alpha-po sitive population (r = 0.64; p < 0.01) in patients who responded to ch emotherapy.