Impact of BCR/ABL gene expression on the proliferative rate of different subpopulations of haematopoietic cells in chronic myeloid leukaemia

Despite the effects of BCR/ABL on cell proliferation, no study has compared the proliferative rate of different haematopoietic cell compartments from chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) with those of normal bone marrow (NBM). We comparatively analysed the cell cycle distribution and BCR/ABL expression in different compartments of BM cells from 15 CML and 11 NBM. Overall, our results showed similar proliferative indices in CML patients and NBM. However, CD34+ myeloid precursors from CML patients displayed an increased proportion of S + G₂/M-phase cells (P = 0.04), while no significant differences were found between CML and NBM for other BM cell subsets analysed. In BM cells separated by fluorescence-activated cell sorting, decreasing levels of BCR/ABL mRNA were found from CD34⁺/CD38⁺ myeloid precursors to myeloblasts; BCR/ABL expression increased afterwards with a peak at the myelocyte/metamyelocyte stage, decreasing in the more mature band/neutrophil compartment. Unexpectedly, BCR/ABL gene expression showed an inverse correlation with the proportion of S + G₂/M-phase cells (R = -0.33; P = 0.04). These results suggest that in CML, BCR/ABL expression is associated with an increased proliferation of CD34⁺ myeloid haematopoietic progenitor cells but not of other more mature myeloid precursors, as confirmed by the observation of an inverse correlation between the amount of BCR/ABL transcripts and the proportion of S + G₂/M-phase cells.