The mystery is being unraveled of why the control centers, or nuclei, of certain blood cancer cells have a distinctly odd shape.
These new research findings provide clues on the origins and progression of these cancers, and could suggest ways to diagnose and treat certain leukemias at an earlier stage.
These squeezed-in-the-middle nuclei, which resemble pince-nez glasses, are called Pelger-Huët anomalies. They were first observed under a microscope in 1928. Checking for this cellular aberration has long helped clinical labs diagnose leukemias and myelodysplastic syndrome, a disease of blood-forming cells in the bone marrow.
