Relationship of a T-lymphocyte marker to phase of cell cycle and morphology of leukemic cells.

Overview

Spontaneous rosette formation with sheep erythrocytes (SRBC) was studied in the peripheral blood and bone marrow lymphoid cells from a patient whose leukemic cells appeared to be T-lymphocytes. Simultaneous morphological examination of the peripheral blood white cells indicated that they consisted of 21% lymphoblast; 26% prolymphocytes and 48% mature lymphocytes. The distribution of bone marrow cells within the cell cycle was determined by flow microfluorometry and 7 hours after treatment with vincristine consisted of 69% in G1, 21% in S, and 9% in mitosis. Since virtually all the cells both in marrow and blood formed rosettes with SRBC this implies that the expression of this T cell marker is independent both of the morphological appearance of these cells and their position within the cell cycle.