Granulocyte Colony Formation in Chronic Granulocytic Leukemia during Stable, Accelerated and Blastic Disease

Abstract

The number of granulocyte colony forming cells (CFU-C) were determined in the peripheral blood and bone marrow of patients with chronic granulocytic leukemia (CGL) during the stable, accelerated and blastic phases of the disease. These studies corroborated previous work indicating that blood CFU-C numbers are high during the stable phase of CGL. In the accelerated and blast phases of CGL, CFU-C numbers in the peripheral blood and bone marrow may be decreased, normal or increased, but are not consistently low. Changes in CFU-C numbers could not be correlated with clinical patterns of CGL, or eventual outcome of the disease.