[Phagocytic activity and cytochemical characterization of acute human myeloblastic leukemia cells].

The ability of leukemic cells to phagocytize in vitro inert latex particles was tested in a group of non-lymphoblastic acute leukemia causes classified according to the FAB criteria. Promyelocytic, myelomonocytic, and myeloblastic leukemias were found to possess the highest percentage of cells with phagocytic activity. The cytochemical characterization of the cells revealed that the majority of phagocytic elements were negative for alpha-naphtyl acetate staining and positive for the peroxidase reaction. These unexpected findings could be explained by the impaired differentiation process of leukemic cells.