Analysis of the cellular DNA and RNA content in acute leukemias by flow cytometry

Summary In the present study bone marrow samples from 573 patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid (AML) and lymphoblastic or undifferentiated leukemias (ALL/AUL), were analysed for their cellular DNA und DNA/RNA content, respectively, by means of flow cytometry. From 237 patients with AML 35.4% revealed aneuploid DNA stemlines. While no relation of DNA aneuploidy with other pretherapeutic parameters, including FAB subtype, white blood cell count, lactate dehydrogenase, S-phase index and percentage of blasts in the bone marrow, was observed, cases with aneuploid DNA stemlines revealed a tendency towards longer remission duration. In ALL/AUL 21.8% of 280 patients expressed DNA aneuploidies, which were less frequently found in T-cell ALL (11.1%) as compared to common(C)-ALL (21.4%) or null-cell(null)-ALL (23.5%). DNA aneuploidy was not related with other clinically defined risk factors such as age, white blood cell count, and rapid achievement of remission. Patients with DNA indices <1.0, however, tended to have shorter remissions. A significant difference in RNA indices was observed between AML and ALL/AUL with median values of 14.4 and 10.1, respectively (P<0.05). These data indicate the usefulness of flow cytometric analyses of cellular DNA and RNA content for the characterization and classification of acute leukemias, complementing the identification of clinical risk factors, immuno-phenotyping and cytogenetics.Abbreviations AML acute myeloid leukemia - ALL acute lymphoblastic leukemia - AUL acute undifferentiated leukemia - T-ALL, C-ALL and Null-ALL T-cell, common and Null-cell ALL