SEPARATION OF BLAST CELL AND LYMPHOCYTE-T PROGENITORS IN THE BLOOD OF PATIENTS WITH ACUTE MYELOBLASTIC-LEUKEMIA

Google Scholar
  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 54  (1) , 186-195
Abstract
The peripheral blood of acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) patients often contains large numbers of 2 distinct cell populations, both capable of forming colonies in culture under similar conditions. The 1st population consists of the precursors of blast cells and has specificity for AML; the 2nd population consists of T [thymus-derived] lymphocyte precursors, also found in normal blood. The 2 progenitor populations could be separated by exploiting the capacity of T lymphocyte (but not blasts) progenitors to form rosettes with sheep erythrocytes (E rosettes). After E-rosette formation, T lymphocyte precursors could be removed by centrifugation on Ficoll-Hypaque. Such separation had a number of consequences. Blast progenitors could be detected where unseparated mononuclear preparations yielded no colonies or only T lymphocyte colonies (20 of 21 patients). The stimulator requirements of the blast progenitors changed indicating that cell-cell interactions may take place between blast and T lymphocyte progenitors. It is feasible to characterize blast and T-lymphocyte precursors independently, even though they may coexist in peripheral blood. This may be important if progenitor properties are attributes contributing to the variance in outcome in AML.

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit: