Immunophenotyping

[lotusbud]

Anybody has experience or direction where to find information on immunophenotyping - CD54, CD34, CD117, etc. in bonemarrow biopsy?
Are certain types indicative of certain disorders, like I know by combining these one can know the maturation stage of a cell?
Thank you...

[Ruth Cuadra]

Hi, lotusbud.

There are more than 250 types of CD (cluster of differentiation) molecules on the surfaces of cells in our bodies. Because they are useful for classifying white blood cells, they are used in diagnosing lymphoma, leukemia, and MDS, each which involve WBCs.

You can find general information and links to specific information about certain common markers at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_of_differentiation

Technical details about specific markers can also be found at http://www.pathologyoutlines.com/cdmarkers.html

Hope this helps,
Ruth

[lotusbud]

Thank you Ruth,
I checked both of these sites and wracked my brain. It is quite fascinating though, the same thing a little too much is no good, a too little too. Apparently flow cytometry and immunophenotyping is fairly new but apparently a powerful tool to find out what is going on in the bone marrow. However it seems not so straitforward... Then the question would be what are the normal values in a bonemarrow, when there is an abnormality.