Chronic myelocytic leukaemia: a pluripotent haemopoietic cell is involved in the malignant clone.

Haemopoietic cells with pluripotent capabilities, were grown in soft-gel cultures from the peripheral blood of a glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) electrophoretic A,B heterozygous female with chronic myelocytic and granulocytic progeny. Only type B isoenzyme of G6PD was found in mixed colonies, in mature neutrophils, erythrocytes, and committed granulocyte and isoenzymes of G6PD. This study provides direct evidence that a pluripotent haemopoietic stem cell is involved in the malignant clone in CML.