CD200 in hematological malignancies: just a diagnostic tool or more?

Over the past two decades, the increased number of monoclonal antibodies and the constantly expanding availability of fluorescence probes significantly improved the efficiency and the accuracy of flow cytometric analysis, providing relevant information for the diagnosis, classification and follow up of various hematological malignancies. As a diagnostic tool, together with morphology and molecular genetics, flow cytometry has become a gold standard in the identification of acute and chronic leukemias, but is crucial also in the diagnosis of lymphomas and in the unusual “solid” presentation of hematological diseases. Consequently, it has gained a prominent position in the current WHO classification of hematological neoplasms (1).