Leukaemia cytogenetics / H. Jackson Woodliff.

  • Woodliff, H. Jackson.
Date:
1971
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Leukaemia cytogenetics / H. Jackson Woodliff. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Chapter V ACUTE LEUKAEMIA Introduction The first chromosomal abnormahty in cells from a patient with acute leukaemia was reported by Ford et al. (1958); many other patients studied at this time, however, had normal karyotypes (Table II) and it was subsequently realized that some of the PHA stimulated cells in peripheral blood might not have been leukaemic. Since selective growth of cells with a normal karyotype may have occurred, more recent studies have usually^been made on bone marrow, although short-term cultures without PHA may also yield leukaemic metaphases in some cases (Baikie et ah, 1961è; Kemp, 1961; Woodliff, 1962, 1964; Krogh Jensen, 1967ö; Teplitz, 1968). Bone marrow cells from untreated patients may also yield only normal metaphases and many of these are almost certainly derived from leukaemic cells (Table III). No constant or typical chromo¬ somal abnormality characteristic of the disease has been found and for diagnostic purposes a negative result is unhelpful. It is possible that an abnormality has remained undetected by current methods of examination and we cannot be certain that there is not a specific chromosomal abnormality in acute leukaemia. Numerical abnormalities described include aneuploidy, both random and with hypodiploid and hyperdiploid cell lines, poly¬ ploidy, endoreduplication and haploidy. Structural aberrations in¬ clude deletions, marker chromosomes, pseudodiploidy, dicentric chromosomes, lesions and breaks of the chromatids, acentric frag¬ ments and an increase in secondary constrictions. These have been found in cells from untreated patients and are therefore related to the leukaemic disorder; however, they are more common following treatment, probably due to the effect of cytotoxic drugs (Weatherall and Walker, 1965; Krogh Jensen, 1967/?). Abnormalities have been found in all cytological types of acute leukaemia and at all ages from the newborn to the aged (Zussman et al, 1967); some are illustrated in Figures 9-14.