ERYTHROID COLONY FORMATION IN PLASMA CLOT BY THE BONE-MARROW OF POLYCYTHEMIA-VERA - EVIDENCE FOR 2 POPULATIONS OF ERYTHROID PRECURSORS (CFUE)

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  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 20  (4) , 565-574
Abstract
In vitro studies using the plasma clot culture system were performed to compare the red cell progenitors able to rise to erythrocytic colonies in 7 days (CFUE) in the bone marrow of polycythemia vera (PV), secondary polycythemias and normal subjects. In PV but never in normal individuals or secondary polycythemias, the bone marrow cells producing erythroid colonies without addition of erythropoietin were found. The erythropoietin dose response curves in PV is biphasic with a plateau up to a concentration of erythropoietin of 0.02-0.05 i.U./ml followed by a near normal response to erythropoietin at higher doses. Two populations of erythroid stem cells coexist in PV, one being abnormally sensitive to (or independent of) erythropoietin, the other normally responding to erythropoietin. After remission induced by P32 treatment, the abnormal population can disappear but the prognostic significance of this disappearance is uncertain. On the whole these results are in agreement with those of other laboratories using the plasma clot culture system. The reasons of the disagreement with the data published using the methylcellulose technique of culture are discussed.