Colony Forming Abilities of Bone Marrow Cells in Patients with Hematological Malignancies

Colony forming abilities of the bone marrow cells were studied in 36 patients with hematological malignacies. Leukemic cells showed poor colony formations in acute leukemias, except for acute myelomonocytic leukemia (M4) which showed an increased colony formation. The colony formations of erythroid progenitor cells were preserved in some cases with acute leukemias. The patients with acute leukemias who formed few colonies or small clusters of leukemic cells tended to be induced to remission. In erythroleukemia (M6) and myelodysplastic syndromes, both myeloid and erythroid colony formations were markebly suppressed, except for chronic myelomonocytic leukemia which showed an increased leukemic colony formation. In chronic myelocytic leukemia, both myeloid and erythroid colonies were subnormal, normal or increased. In polycythemia vera, abundant erythroid colonies were formed. During remission induction chemotherapy for acute leukemias, normal hematopoiesis remained suppressed until the leukemic blasts decreased below 5% in the bone marrow, thereafter rapid increase of normal hematopoietic progenitors occurred. Granulocyte and macrophage colonies recovered simultaneously. After achieving remission, normal hematopoiesis were preserved as long as the remission was maintained. Decreased colony formations were often preceded the hematological relapse in acute leukemias and the blastic transformation in chronic myelocytic leukemias. It is concluded that studies on colony forming abilities of the bone marrow cells provide an useful information on the treatment and management of patients with hematological malignancies.

Leukemia

L-CFU

CFU-C

BFU-E

CFU-E