High‐frequency establishment of human immunoglobulin‐producing lymphoblastoid lines from normal and malignant lymphoid tissue and peripheral blood

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Abstract
Human hematopoietic tissue and lymphocytes separated from 10‐20 ml samples of peripheral blood have been grown in vitro in a lens‐paper and a gelatin foam (Spongostan) grid organ culture.Lymphoblastoid cell lines were established from the lymph nodes, and in one case from the spleen, of 22/23 consecutive, unselected adult individuals without manifest malignancy or infectious mononucleosis. Biopsies from 5/8 patients with malignancy were successful. The blood tines were derived from 5/10 patients with and 4/10 donors without malignancy.The very high frequency of success from normal tissue confirms the assumption made before that the spontaneous establishment of lymphoblastoid cell lines is unrelated to manifest malignancy of the donor. The results indicate that lymphoid cells with a potential for infinite proliferation (“lymphoblastoid transformation”) are present in almost all adult individuals. The Spongostan grid culture is a superior instrument to select and/or adapt these cells in vitro.All lymphoblastoid lines produced immunoglobulins. The majority started with a “polyclonal” pattern of immunoglobulin production but changed towards stable “ monoclonality “ during the course of long‐term cultivation. It is suggested that lymphoblastoid lines have a polyclonal origin and that the reason for development of a monoclonal line is a selection of one cell clone either in the organ culture during establishment or in long‐term culture.