Antigenic heterogeneity of leukemia.

When reassessing the clonal origin of malignant tumors, it is argued that most malignant tumors are heterogeneous for a number of phenotypic characteristics including antigenicity. Taking the murine AkR leukemia as an example, how antigenic heterogeneity may affect immunologic approaches to diagnostics and treatment of leukemias is discussed. The consequences for use of monoclonal antibodies in relation to human leukemias are also discussed, especially in light of recent achievements in producing human monoclonal antibodies.