Prognostic significance of neoplastic cell proliferation parameters in human haematological malignancies.

High percentage of neoplastic cells in S, G2 and M phases of cell cycle is unfavourable prognostic sign in human haematological malignancies. In chronic leukaemias (CML and CLL) it is true for peripheral blood leukaemic cells, in non-Hodgkin lymphomas--for lymph node cells, in multiple myeloma--for bone marrow plasma cells. In acute leukaemia results are controversial: some authors found a correlation between proliferation parameters of bone marrow blast cells while others did not. These parameters correlate positively with the rate of complete remission and negatively with its duration. It is concluded that proliferation parameters of neoplastic cells may be used for individual prognosis in patients with haematological tumours especially in combination with other biological and clinical prognostic markers.