CD34 is a 110-kD glycoprotein previously shown by a variety of monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) to be expressed selectively on immature hematopoietic cells. However, more detailed characterization of CD34+ cells has been hampered by lack of anti-CD34 MoAbs that can be labelled directly with fluorochromes to facilitate subpopulation analysis by multi-parameter flow cytometry. We have recently isolated a murine anti-CD34 MoAb, designated as 8G12, that can be directly labelled with fluorochromes such as FITC. In this study, we have exploited this property of 8G12 to compare the reactivity of 8G12 and My10 with normal and leukaemic human marrow cells and to characterize normal early human B cell precursors by two- and three-colour immunofluorescence analysis. Comparison of three-colour staining profiles of normal bone marrow cells incubated with both 8G12 and MY10, and either anti-CD10 or anti-CD19 MoAb revealed the reactivity patterns of 8G12 and MY10 to be indistinguishable. This conclusion was confirmed by a similar comparative analysis of 8G12 and MY10 staining of blood and bone marrow cells from 4 patients with B lineage acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Of interest, both 8G12 and MY10 detected a CD34+CD10+CD19- population in normal adult bone marrow. To determine whether a CD34+CD10+CD19- precursor population previously reported by others to exist in fetal liver could also be identified, CD10+CD16- marrow cells were first isolated by FACS and the sorted cells then re-analysed for expression of CD19 and CD34. These studies showed that all of the sorted CD10+ cells that expressed CD34 appeared to coexpress CD19. No CD34+CD10+CD19- cells were detected (at a sensitivity of less than or equal to 0.1%). Further studies will be required to determine whether a very minor population of CD34+CD10+CD19- cells may still be generated in the normal development of B cells in adult human marrow.