THE NATURE OF LEUCHÆMIA

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Abstract
SUMMARY: A component of the globulin fraction of rabbit serum reacts with the protoplasmic constituents of the normal cell but not with the corresponding malignant counterpart. The phenomenon can be demonstrated by conjugating a serum globulin fraction with fluorescein isocyanate; non‐neoplastic tissues stain, but the neoplastic cells do not. This has been established particularly with experimentally produced hepatomata in rats and has been confirmed with other experimentally produced tumours.The method has been applied to naturally occurring tumours in man, and similar results have been obtained ; that is to say, normal tissues stained with the fluorescein isocyanate‐globulin complex fluoresce brightly, but tumour tissues do not.Films obtained from normal individuals, as well as those suffering from infectious conditions such as glandular fever, were compared, using this technique, with those of leuchæmias. Normal white cells and those from various infectious diseases fluoresced well. Among the leuchæmias, the cells of chronic myeloid, chronic lymphatic and monocytic leuchæmias all fluoresced brightly. A proportion of the cells of acute leuchæmias (the primitive cells) failed to fluoresce.This observation suggests that the chronic leuchæmias are non‐neoplastic conditions but that the acute leuchæmias, from the point of view of this method of study, do conform with the postulate that they are neoplastic in nature.