Cytochemistry and Membrane Markers in Acute Lymphatic Leukaemia (ALL)

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Abstract
Patients (136) suffering from ALL (acute lymphatic leukemia) were subdivided into 5 subtypes (C(common type)-ALL, C/T(common/T-cell type)-ALL, pre-T-ALL, B-ALL) according to rosetting tests and using specific antisera directed against membrane antigens. Leukemic blasts of all patients were investigated according to morphological and cytochemical criteria. In APh (acid phosphatase) and ANAE (acid .alpha.-naphthyl acetate esterase), indices and the percentages of cases showing a granular staining pattern were high in pre-T- and in T-ALL, but low in C/T- and in C-ALL. PAS(periodic acid-Schiff reaction)-staining, conversely, was more pronounced in C/T- and C-ALL. APh was more discriminative for recognition of the T- and pre-T-ALL subgroups than ANAE but ANAE-cytochemistry may be useful to detect contaminating normal T-lymphocytes in ALL. Receptors for C3 (complement component 3) were more frequent in C- and in T-ALL than in C/T- and in pre-T-ALL; receptors for Fc were distributed equally among all subtypes. Positivity of C3- and Fc-receptors was not correlated with cytochemical results. Morphological criteria were not sufficient for subclassification of ALL. The combination of APh- and PAS-staining is valuable to differentiate between C-subgroups and T-subgroups.