Serial incidence of bone marrow GM-CFC prior to the development of acute non-lymphoblastic leukaemia in a child treated for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

A child treated for NHL developed acute non-lymphoblastic leukaemia 27 months after stopping treatment. Serial in vitro bone marrow studies showed a normal incidence of GM-CFC following treatment. However, GM-CFC incidence dropped at least 15 months prior to the development of leukaemia. This was associated with an asymptomatic neutropenia but no disturbance of bone marrow morphology. It is concluded that sub-clinical disturbances of bone marrow function may play an important part in leukaemogenesis.