Bone marrow lymphocyte subsets in myelodysplastic syndromes.

AIM: To examine lymphocyte subsets in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS); and to correlate immunohistological variables with prognosis.

METHODS

Bone marrow trephine biopsy specimens from 65 patients with MDS were immunophenotyped using a panel of antibodies. A minimum of 1000 cells from representative areas of marrow sections were counted at light microscopy. The association between immunohistological variables and prognosis was assessed.

RESULTS

Compared with normal control marrows (n = 23) no major abnormalities of T cells (CD3), T cell subsets (CD4, CD8, CD25, TCR gamma/delta) or natural killer cells (CD56, CD57) were seen in the 65 patients. In high risk MDS (RAEB, RAEB-t) 19% of the cases showed increased numbers of B lymphocytes compared with none in the low risk group (RA, RARS) (p < 0.0090). Only percentages of B cells above 3% significantly correlated with poor survival (p = 0.0121 for CD19, p = 0.046 for CD22).

CONCLUSIONS

The deviations in T lymphocyte counts seen in peripheral blood and in bone marrow aspirates could not be verified in bone marrow biopsy specimens.