Diagnostic and prognostic significance of peripheral blood cultural characteristics in adult acute leukaemia.

A simple liquid culture technique has been used to study peripheral blood from patients with acute myelogenous leukaemia. Evidence is presented that cells from morphologically identical types of leukaemia have differing capacity for "differentiation" from free floating blast cells into plastic-adherent phagocytic, trypsin-resistant macrophage-like cells with Fc and C3 receptors. Preliminary analysis suggests that patients whose cells have the greatest capacity for "differentiation" have a better chance of achieving complete remission.