Quantitative comparison of myeloid antigens on five lineages of mature peripheral blood cells.

Five-dimensional flow cytometry was used to identify the 5 lineages of peripheral blood leukocytes simultaneously in a single cell preparation. This technique was then used to compare quantitatively the distribution of cell surface antigens on each of these lineages of cells. Neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, lymphocytes, and monocytes were uniquely identified by correlating their forward and orthogonal light scattering signals with the amount of cell surface-bound IgE. These three cellular characteristics were combined with two additional immunofluorescence labels to create a 5-dimensional space in which each leukocyte population occupied a unique position. The relative quantities of antigens on each cell type were determined for the monoclonal antibodies CD11b, CD13, CD14, CD15, CD16, CD33, CD38, CD45, CD45R, anti-HLA-DR, and anti-Leu-8 labeled with either fluorescein or phycoerythrin. The amount of antigen was described by the mean fluorescence intensity in comparison with the background fluorescence of each cell type. The distribution of the different cell surface antigens on the 5 major leukocyte populations as well as their interdonor variation were then correlated for 10 normal donors. Since none of the antigens studied was lineage specific, it was shown that the different lineages of blood cells could clearly be identified by quantitative comparison of the antigens. This study provides the basis for discrimination between mature cells and immature stages of differentiation of leukocytes and for distinction between normal and leukemic cells.