ANALYSIS OF C-KIT, TIE AND HTK EXPRESSION ON LEUKEMIC-CELLS USING FLOW-CYTOMETRY - A PRELIMINARY-REPORT

C-KIT, TIE and HKT expression on leukemic cells from patients were sim ultaneously analyzed using flow cytometry. Consistent with previous re ports, leukemic cells from most patients with de novo acute myeloid le ukemia (AML) were C-KIT-positive (28/35), while those from patients wi th B-lineage acute lymphoid leukemia (B-ALL) were C-KIT-negative (0/9) . In the B-ALL patients, leukemic cells trom seven patients had one or more myeloid antigen such as CD13, CD15 and CD33. In contrast to C-KI T expression, leukemic cells from only one patient with acute monocyti c leukemia were TIE-positive. Similarly, leukemic cells from only two patients tone; B-ALL with t(4;11)(q21;q23) and one, essential thromboc ythemia in myeloblastic transformation (ET-MBT)) were HTK-positive. Th ese results suggest that among the three receptor tyrosine kinases, C- KIT is the most useful marker for identifying AML. (C) 1998 Elsevier S cience Ltd. All rights reserved.