CYTOGENETIC TRICLONALITY IN ACUTE MYELOID-LEUKEMIA - A MORPHOLOGIC, IMMUNOLOGICAL AND IN-SITU HYBRIDIZATION STUDY

Cytogenetically unrelated clones are uncommon in hematologic malignanc ies. We report a case of acute myeloid leukemia, which consisted morph ologically of two populations of small and large blasts demonstrating immunophenotypic heterogeneity. Cytogenetic analysis showed 3 karyotyp ically abnormal clones: 47,XY,+14/45,XY,dic(5;17)(q11;p11),14dmin, and a near-tetraploid clone. In situ hybridization showed that the near-t etraploid clone corresponded to the large blasts, and the near-diploid clones the small blasts, therefore demonstrating a direct relationshi p between cell size and DNA content. The diverse morphologic, immunolo gic and cytogenetic heterogeneity observed in our case suggested hemat opoietic oligoclonality.