Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a group of
haematological malignancies categorized by ineffective
hematopoiesis that result in dysplasia. Although
morphological diagnosis is a traditional and standard
technique that is used for the diagnosis of MDS, the
heterogeneous blood and bone marrow characteristics of
MDS patients can potentially obscure the right diagnosis.
Thus, we have utilized flow cytometric immunophenotyping
as a supportive mechanism to obtain a more accurate and
faster method for detection of abnormal markers in MDS.
Flow cytometry was used for analyzing bone marrow
samples from newly diagnosed MDS patients to investigate
the abnormal antigen expression patterns in granulocytic,
monocytic, erythroid, lymphoid lineages and myeloid
precursors. The results were compared with those obtained
from cases that had Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura
(ITP) as a control. The most common abnormality found in
the granulocytic lineage was the decrease of CD10. Low
expressions of CD13 were the most frequent abnormality in
the monocytic lineage. The erythroid lineage was found to
have low expression of CD235A+/CD71+, reduce of CD71and
decreased CD235a. In conclusion, this method is useful for
confirming cases in which it is difficult to make a diagnosis by morphology.