Surface Marker Analysis by Monoclonal Antibodies: A Valuable Technique in Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia

A considerable number of monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) with myeloid activity have been described during the last few years (summarized in [1]). These MoAbs have been applied to the study of normal myeloid differentiation, as well as to the surface marker analysis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) [2–6]. Although there is a strong tendency for morphological differentiation to correspond to surface antigen differentiation of malignant myeloid cells [2, 3], a recent report has failed to correlate the FAB classification system with immunologic categories of AML [6].