Aim: The current study designed to evaluate the abnormal expression prevalence of Cluster of Differentiation (CD) markers in Iraqi patients diagnosed with AL at the Medical City Hospitals. Materials and Methods: A total of 175 newly diagnosed leukemia patients (110 males and 65 females) aged between 1 and 85 years were included. Bone marrow aspiration and flow cytometry were used to analyze CD marker expression. Data on hematological parameters, immunophenotypic profiles, and demographic characteristics were recorded and statistically analyzed. Results: The present study identified aberrant expression of CD markers, including CD13, CD19, CD33, CD34, CD117, CD56, CD5, TdT, HLA-DR, and CD79a, across different leukemia subtypes. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) was the most prevalent subtype (46.2%), followed by B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) (26.2%) and T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) (8.5%). CD34 was highly expressed in AML, B-ALL, and T-ALL cases, while CD13 and CD33 were predominantly expressed in AML. CD56 and CD117 were associated with multiple myeloma (MM). Conclusions: The study demonstrated a high ratio of abnormal CD marker expression in AL cases, aligning previous data from various area around the world. Identifying aberrant antigen expression patterns through immunophenotyping aids in diagnosing leukemia and distinguishing neoplastic cells from normal hematopoietic precursors.
Habeeb et al. (Mon,) studied this question.