Detection of erythrocytes in patients with Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia using atomic force microscopy.

The pathological changes of erythrocytes are detected at the nanometer scale, which is important for revealing the onset of diseases and diagnosis. The aim of this study is to examine the ultrastructural changes of erythrocytes in Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM) at a nanometer scale. Blood samples were collected from two healthy volunteers, two WM patients, and three multiple myeloma (MM) patients when they were first diagnosed. The changes of morphology in the erythrocytes were studied at the nanometer level by high-resolution atomic force microscopy imaging (AFM). Compared with the healthy controls and the MM patients, there were dramatic deformations in the overall shape and surface membrane of the erythrocytes in WM patients. Healthy, pathological WM, and MM erythrocytes could be distinguished by several morphological parameters, including the width, length, length-to-width ratio, valley, peak, peak-to-valley, and Ra. AFM is able to detect the morphological differences in the red blood cells from WM patients, healthy controls, and MM patients. Therefore, the erythrocyte morphology is an important parameter for the diagnosis of WM, which can be used to distinguish WM from MM. The changes of ultrastructure in red blood cells may provide a clue to reveal the mechanism of WM.