IMMUNOPHENOTYPING OF ACUTE LEUKAEMIAS BY FLOW CYTOMETRY: A REVIEW

Abstract

Objective: To provide an overview of the utility of flow cytometry for phenotyping ofacute leukaemias and selection of monoclonal antibodies.

Data sources: The literature review was obtained through internet, journals andchapters in the relevant books.

Data selection: Relevant articles and chapters on immunophenotyping of acuteleukaemias were selected from respected international journals and books in the fieldof haematology and were reviewed.

Data extraction and synthesis: Complete articles relevant to the topic were selectedand reviewed and the necessary information extracted for this review.

Conclusions: Flow cytometry has been used extensively in recent years to characterisehaemopoeitic malignancies and done routinely in the developed world. This techniquehas greatly improved the diagnosis and classification of haemopoeitic malignanciesand has been recommended by World Health Organisation classification (WHO) oftumours of haemopoeitic and lymphoid tissue. Application of flow cytometry for thediagnosis of leukaemias has been recently introduced in Kenya and is currently beingundertaken in research using limited but appropriate panels of monoclonal antibodies.It is hoped that findings of this research will inform the use of flow cytometry as anancillary diagnostic technique in our resource-constrained set up.