Auer bodies in acute myeloid leukaemia patients.

Auer bodies have been reported in several clinical studies to be the single most important favourable prognostic parameter for induction remission rate and survival duration in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). The presence of Auer bodies in 205 AML patients was studied and its relationship with five cytological and cytochemical features of leukaemic cell maturation: the presence of granules, low nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio, Sudan black positivity, esterases positivity and the maturation index was assessed in bone marrow smears of each AML patient. The results showed a significant correlation between the presence of Auer bodies and both young age and more differentiated leukaemic cells. These findings may explain their favourable prognostic significance in AML patients.