Immunofluorescent Studies of Human Leukemic Cells with Antiserum to a Murine Leukemic Virus (Rauscher Strain)

Cells from bone marrow aspirates and liver, kidney and spleen imprints from patients with leukemia and other nonleukemic hematological and non-hematological disorders were tested for reactivity with murine leukemia (Rauscher) virus antibody using the technique of immunofluorescence. The cells of all eleven patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and four out of five patients with chronic lymphatic leukemia reacted strongly. In only six of the 15 patients with myelogenous leukemia and approximately one-third of the 47 patients with miscellaneous disorders (Table 1) was strong immunofluorescence demonstrated.