This book describes the latest methods of oncological and hematological diagnostics such as immunological, molecular genetic and histological essays. All methods are described in principle in their different variations and compared in their effectiveness and cost. At the end of each chapter a detailed description of the "how-to-do" is given. The book is written for scientists, clinicians and personnel from research laboratories, specialised laboratories and routine diagnostic laboratories in hospitals. It satisfies the increased demand for information on new methods in hematology and oncology.

A description of the latest methods of oncological and hematological diagnostics, such as immunological, molecular genetic and histological essays. All methods are described in principle in their different variations and compared with regard to their effectiveness and cost. Written for scientists, clinicians and personnel in research, specialised and routine diagnostic laboratories in hospitals, this book satisfies the increased demand for information on new methods in hematology and oncology.

Studies on the effect of recombinant human interferon (rIFN) on the growth of colonies of multi potential hematopoietic progenitors have demonstrated that IFN inhibits the growth of these cells in culture. The inhibitory effect of IFN was more pronounced in multilineage colony forming cells (CFU-GEMMT) of marrow cells of patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) compared with stern cells of normal marrow. T cell colony formation (CFU-TL) of phi_positive T cells obtained from primary multilineage hematopoietic colonies was inhibited by rIFN. Inhibition of T cell colony formation of Phi T cells was more profound by IFN compared with secondary T cells of healthy individuals. Southern blot analysis of secondary T cells from normal individuals revealed a germ line pattern when examined for T cell receptor (TcR) gene re arrangements using the cDNA of the beta chain. Subcloned Phi T cells of one patient with CML demonstrated gene rearrangements of the TcR. We also demonstrated the disappearance of phi_positive multilineage hematopoietic colonies when marrow cells were preincubated with IFN and subsequently cultured in the presence of IFN. The cytoconversion of the Phi chromosome in metaphases obtained from individually analyzed multilineage hematopoietic colonies suggests that IFN might allow the restoration of nonclonal hematopoiesis in patients with CML. Acknowledgement. Supported in part by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Medical Research Council of Canada. References 1. Koeffler HP, Golde DW (1981) Chronic myelogenous 1eukelnia - new concepts.