Multicolor Flow Cytometry Detects Monoclonal Plasma Cells in the Vast Majority of Patients with Plasma Cell Disorders Shown to Have Genetic Abnormalities by Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH)

Raul Braylan, Karina Baggiani, Tiana Golding, Eric Kroman, Michael L. Miller, and Wendy L. Flejter

The flow cytometric analysis is considered an essential tool for the identification of malignant hemopoietic and lymphoid cells, and it is particularly useful in evaluating plasma cell clonality to differentiate normal from neoplastic plasma cells (PC). Neoplastic PC typically show loss of CD19 and aberrant expression of markers such as CD56 and CD117, but the demonstration of an expansion of PC containing a single immunoglobulin light chain (monotypic or monoclonal expansion) is critical for determining the nature of a PC population.

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