HETEROGENEITY OF THE INVITRO RESPONSES TO GLUCOCORTICOIDS IN ACUTE-LEUKEMIA

  • 1 January 1980
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 40  (7) , 2601-2608
Abstract
In leukocyte populations freshly isolated from the blood of 26 patients with acute leukemia, several parameters were measured including glucocorticoid receptors, nucleoside incorporation, percentage of cells in S phase and steroid-induced cell lysis. In some cases, the short-term response to steroid therapy was determined. Although, in all the patients studied, leukocytes contained glucocorticoid receptors, no correlation was demonstrated between the level of binding sites and the in vitro or in vivo response to glucocorticoids. This absence of correlation could be in part explained by the marked heterogeneity of the steroid response demonstrated in leukocyte subpopulations. The degree of steroid action in vitro and the extent of spontaneous and dexamethasone-induced cell death may be related to the number of cells in the S phase of the cell cycle.