Chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMML)

Chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia is a haematological neoplasm that develops as a result of clonal degeneration of haematopoietic stem cells. The first sign of the disease is an increase in the number of monocytes in the peripheral blood. In addition to cell proliferation, dysplastic haematopoiesis is also usually present. CMML is difficult to diagnose due to the heterogeneity of its clinical, haematological and morphological presentation and the absence of specific cytogenetic changes. In addition to distinguishing it from other haematological neoplasms, reactive monocytosis must be ruled out before a diagnosis can be made. Due to their immunological function, monocytes are increased in a variety of inflammatory and chronic processes as well as in tumour diseases. This research investigated whether flow cytometric analysis of CD56 expression on monocytes in the presence of absolute monocytosis in peripheral blood is suitable for distinguishing reactive cell proliferation from clonal processes. The study was conducted in collaboration with Andrea Hauser, MSc, and Dr Karl Schrattbauer.