Various 'dendritic cell antigens' are already expressed on uncultured blasts in acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes.

Aim And Methods: Leukemia-derived dendritic cells (DC(leu)) potentially present the whole leukemic antigen repertoire. We studied antigen-expression profiles of blasts/dendritic cells (DCs) generated from 137 acute myeloid leukemia (AML)/49 myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) patients with six different DC-generating media by flow-cytometry combining expression of blast/maturation and DC antigens (DCA:CD1a,b,c, CD25, CD40, CD80, CD83, CD86, CD137-L and CD206).

Results: First, DCA are regularly and variably expressed on uncultured blasts/mononuclear cells (MNCs).