Identification of non-T non-B lymphocyte leukaemia patients with favourable prognosis by cell surface glycoprotein analysis.

Leukaemic cells from 15 children with ALL were isolated and their surface glycoproteins labelled with 3H after treatment with neuraminidase and galactose oxidase followed by NaB3H4. The labelled glycoproteins were separated by polyacrylamide slab gel electrophoresis and visualized by fluorography. The cells could be classified into four groups: 1) Surface glycoprotein pattern resembling that of normal T lymphocyte (one patient); 2) Surface glycoprotein pattern showing some T cell characteristics (5 patients); 3) Surface glycoprotein profile with strongly labelled glycoproteins of apparent molecular weight of 120 000 and 130 000, and frequently a glycoprotein with an apparent molecular weight of 210 000 and visible HLA-coded glycoproteins (6 patients); 4) Surface glycoprotein pattern not resembling those of the other groups (3 patients). Follow-up showed that patients in group 3 have remained in their initial remission (5/6) for the complete study period of 5-6 yr, whereas all patients in the other groups have relapsed and/or died. We conclude that the surface glycoprotein analysis enables the identification of patients with non-T non-B ALL with favourable prognosis.