Surface Features of Leukemic Cells

Abstract

During the past 4 years we have studied cells from approximately 200 cases of acute and chronic leukemia under the SEM [69, 71, 73, 80]. In most of the cases, cells were prepared for SEM without prior fixation in suspension and only a minority of cases were prepared for SEM using fixation in cell suspension. Cases studied included close to 100 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and lymphoma in the leukemic phase (LSL), 26 cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), 10 cases of “hairy” cell leukemia (leukemic reticuloendotheliosis, LRE) 5 cases of Sezary syndrome [77] and 2 cases of plasma cell leukemia [81]. The remaining patients with non-lymphoblastic leukemia included cases of acute and chronic myeloid leukemia, myelomonocy tic, monoblastic, “histiocytic” and undifferentiated leukemia. In these cases the overall population of nonlymphocytic leukemic cells, i.e., myelomonocytic and histiocytic cells, could, in most instances, be distinguished from the majority of leukemic lymphoid cells, on the basis of their surface ultrastructure. Despite the fact that a spectrum of surface morphology was present, it was possible in many instances to classify cases according to the dominant cell type seen.