A dissection of the CD45/side scatter "blast gate". Am J Clin Pathol 2012 May;137(5):800-4
Date
04/24/2012Pubmed ID
22523220DOI
10.1309/AJCPN4G1IZPABRLHScopus ID
2-s2.0-84862621107 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 23 CitationsAbstract
CD45/side scatter (SS) gating is widely used for isolating blasts by flow cytometry (FC). However, other cells contaminate the "blast gate" (BG); CD45/SS gating is thus imprecise, particularly when there are few blasts. We studied the BG contents in 21 myelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs), 14 myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), 7 chronic myelomonocytic leukemias (CMMLs), and 40 nonneoplastic control samples using 4-color FC with cluster analysis. There were no significant differences across groups in the median percentage of BG events represented by blasts (14.7%-22%), granulocytes (23.3%-33.2%), lymphocytes (2.1%-3.2%), and erythroids (1.0%-9.8%). Monocytes were a larger percentage of BG events in CMML (24.2%). Basophils averaged 35.4% of the BG in MPNs. The percentage of blasts within the BG averaged 94.2% in control samples vs 88.2% in MDSs and 80.7% in CMMLs. Blasts averaged about 20% of events in the BG. About 10% to 20% of blasts fell outside the BG in CMMLs and MDSs. Our data highlight pitfalls in using a traditional BG for blast analysis in nonacute myeloid disorders.
Author List
Harrington AM, Olteanu H, Kroft SHAuthors
Alexandra M. Harrington MD Professor in the Pathology department at Medical College of WisconsinSteven Howard Kroft MD Chair, Professor in the Pathology department at Medical College of Wisconsin
MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Flow CytometryHumans
Immunophenotyping
Leukocytes
Myelodysplastic Syndromes
