Flow cytometric immunophenotyping is an essential methodology for establishing the diagnosis and prognostic classifi cation and for detecting measurable residual disease (MRD) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Recently, more sophisticated approaches have been needed in fl ow cytometry (FCM), owing to the improved ability to assess between phenotypes and genetic abnormalities and detect small malignant populations based on aberrant antigen expression at diagnosis. We studied 149 patients with newly diagnosed de novo AML and evaluated the utility of multi-parametric FCM (MFCM) for diagnosing and detecting MRD. Our approach was capable of not only determining the lineages and differentiation status of neoplastic cells but predicting the presence or absence of genetic abnormalities. Moreover, by using a patient-specifi c antibody panel based on aberrant antigen expression, we could detect MRD with high sensitivity (up to 10-4).
