Heterogeneity of marker expression in B-cell leukemias and its diagnostic significance.

Lymphoproliferative disorders of B-cell origin are identified by surface immunoglobulin markers. Clinically, these include several types of leukemias and lymphomas. We have attempted to further characterize B-cell leukemias immunologically using monoclonal antibodies Leu-1 and FMC-7. While cases of classical B-CLL have been shown to react with Leu-1 monoclonal, most other B-cell leukemias often do not react with Leu-1. Our results show that use of an additional monoclonal FMC-7 does not contribute towards diagnostic reliability.