Combined immunophenotyping and DNA in situ hybridization to study lineage involvement in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes

Clonality of myeloid and lymphoid cell fractions obtained from peripheral blood (PB) or bone marrow (BM) of five patients with a myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), was studied by combined immunophenotypic analysis and DNA in situ hybridization. This novel technique enables quantitative and direct analysis of cytogenetic alterations in nondividing cells of distinct cell lineages. Four patients with a trisomy 8 and one patient with a translocation (1;7) were studied. For cell lineage determination, antibodies specific for progenitor cells (CD34), myeloid cells (CD15), monocytes (63D3), T cells (CD3), and B cells (CD19,20,22) were used. In one patient with a trisomy 8, BM cells were available and the erythroid lineage could be studied. For detection of cytogenetic aberrations, we used chromosome-specific repetitive DNA probes. In three patients, all nonlymphoid cells carried the cytogenetic abnormality; in two patients, mosaicism within these lineages was suggested by the relative low numbers (35% to 55%) of aberrant cells. None of the T or B cells of the five patients carried the chromosomal aberrations. We conclude that combined immunophenotyping and in situ hybridization is a feasible technique to study lineage involvement. Our data suggest that the chromosomal aberrations studied in MDS are restricted to the myeloid lineages.