Korean J Lab Med.  2003 Oct;23(5):304-308.

Morphologic, Cytogenetic and Immunophenotypic Characteristics of CD56 expression in Acute Leukemia

• Cho D
• Kim JP
• Shin MG
• Kim SH
• Lee JJ
• Chung IJ
• Kim HJ
• Kee SJ
• Shin JH
• Suh SP
• Ryang DW

Abstract

BACKGROUND
CD56 is generally considered to be a natural killer (NK) cell marker, but it is also found in various tissues including acute leukemia. Recently, some reports have showed that positive CD56staining by blast cells is associated with an unfavorable outcome in AML with either t(8;21) or t(15;17)and in some ALL. This study investigated the characteristics of morphology, immunophenotype and cytogenetics and correlated the expression of CD56 of blast cells in 262 acute leukemia patients. METHODS: We analyzed 153 AML and 109 ALL, who underwent flow cytometry for CD56 at diagnosis at Chonnam National University Hospital between January 1999 and May 2003, for morphology, immunophenotype, and cytogenetics, retrospectively. RESULTS: The CD56 antigen was positive in 47 out of 163 AML cases (28.8%) and in 4 out of 109 ALL cases (3.7%). There were no statistically significant differences in the hematological parameters between the CD56+ and CD56- groups in ALL. However, the CD56 expression in AML was significantly high (81.8%) in AML-M2 with t(8;21) and low (5%) in AML-M3 with t(15;17) and was associatedwith the frequent expression of CD34 and HLA-DR. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the CD56 expression in AML is associated with specific translocation, FAB subtype, some antigens CD34 and HLA-DR, and is significantly higher than in ALL.

Keyword

CD56; Acute leukemia; Morphology; Cytogenetics; Immunophenotyping

MeSH Terms

Antigens, CD56
Cytogenetics*
Diagnosis
Flow Cytometry
HLA-DR Antigens
Humans
Immunophenotyping
Jeollanam-do
Leukemia*
Retrospective Studies
Antigens, CD56
HLA-DR Antigens