Regulation of bone marrow myeloblast proliferation in chronic myeloid leukemia.

The in vivo [3H]thymidine-labeling index of bone marrow myeloblasts and myelocytes was determined for 9 hematologically normal individuals and 20 Ph-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients in the chronic phase of their disease. The mean labeling index of myeloblasts from CML patients when the white blood cell (WNC) count was lower than 20,000/cu mm (42.4%) was not significantly different from that of normal myeloblasts (49.9). This index was found to be significantly (p less than 0.05) decreased to an average of 20.9% when the WBC count was higher than 40,000/cu mm. The mean labelling index of CML myelocytes was not significantly influenced by the level of WBC. The data presented indicate that such variations in the labeling index of the leukemic myeloblasts represent changes of their proliferative activity related to the level of WBC. It is concluded that the proliferation of CML myeloblasts is sensitive, to a certain degree at least, to the size of the myeloid cell population in the body or a subclass of it.