Primitive progenitor cells in the blood of patients with chronic granulocytic leukemia

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Abstract
We measured the number of blast colony-forming cells (BI-CFC) in the blood of 11 patients with untreated chronic granulocytic leukemia (CGL). The culture system used detects three types of B1-CFC (Types I, II and III) in normal marrow, of which B1-CFC (I) are the most primitive and might represent the putative hemopoietic stem cell. The mean numbers of B1-CFC (I) in CGL blood, normal bone marrow and normal blood were 134 ′ 29 (′ SEM), 127 ′ 21 and 1.5 ′ 0 respectively per 1 ′ 106 mononuclear cells. These findings are consistent with the concept that CGL is due to a primary increase in stem cell numbers with secondary increases in committed progenitor and leukocyte numbers.