Peripheral blood granulocyte-macrophage progenitors in patients with the myelodysplastic syndromes.

Peripheral blood (PB) granulocyte-macrophage progenitor (CFU-GM) growth was measured in 47 normal subjects and, together with bone marrow CFU-GM and blast cell numbers, in 45 newly diagnosed patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Both PB colony and cluster numbers were significantly reduced in MDS patients. In patients with greater than 5% marrow blasts there was a negative correlation between blast cell numbers and PB colony growth. Bone marrow and PB colony growth were also well correlated in this group. Poor growth of PB CFU-GM appears to be more closely related to prognosis than does bone marrow progenitor growth.