Immunological phenotypes of human leukemias of the B-cell lineage.

The recent results are summarized of some immunological studies of various human leukemias of the B-cell lineage. The study of pre-B leukemias has outlined the diversity of immunoglobulin expression in leukemic cells resembling B-lymphocyte precursors and has provided insights into the biology of the progenitors of hematopoietic cells. Acute leukemia with Burkitt cells represents a very homogeneous group close to classical Burkitt's lymphoma. Mitogens are able to induce in vitro differentiation of leukemic cells from chronic lymphocytic-B leukemia and from hairy cell leukemia. Hairy cells become able to express new phenotypic characteristics after stimulation by phytohemagglutinin.