Granulopoietic progenitor cells (CFU-C) in patients with acute leukemia: a comparison of two different culture techniques.

Determination of colony formation has become a powerful tool in investigating hematopoiesis in patients with acute leukemia. Reports in this field, however, are somewhat controversial. This might be due to the use of different stimulation techniques. We compared the conventional feeder-layer technique with a method using human placental conditioned medium (HPCM) for stimulation of colony forming cells (CFU-C) in 31 patients with acute leukemia at various stages of their disease. Statistical analysis showed that the numbers of clusters and colonies determined by each of the methods were comparable and correlated significantly. Thus, in demonstrating granulopoiesis in leukemia patients, each method can be reliably used. The HPCM-technique offers the advantage of better standardization and is more convenient.