A lymphoblastoid cell line with high phagocytic activity established from peripheral blood of a patient with chronic myelocytic leukemia in blast crisis.

Abstract

ABSTRACT. A human hematopoietic cell line (K-23-M) was established from a patient with chronic myelocytic leukemia in blast crisis. Morphologically, the cultured cells were lymphoblastoid cells that produced 1gA and were Epstein-Barr viral nuclear antigen positive. But they showed high phagocytic activity to glutaraldehyde-treated sheep red cells and had properties of a monocyte or macrophage that included surface Fc receptors, a-naphthyL butyrate esterase positivity blocked by NaF, migration in soft agar and the ability to attach to a glass surface. Lysozyme secretion was absent, and chromosomes were diploid and Ph1 negative. This cell line is unique in that it has strong phagocytic activity. Its existence shows that lymphoblastoid cell line may be a more important cell line for the study of human hematopoietic cells than previously has been believed.