82] Measurement of the effect of interferons on the proliferative capacity and cloning efficiency of normal and leukemic human myeloid progenitor cells in culture

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the measurement of the effect of interferons on the proliferative capacity and cloning efficiency of normal and leukemic human myeloid progenitor cells in culture. In the case of human leukemic myeloblasts, interferon has been shown to decrease colony formation in leukemic myeloblasts from patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia as well as clonigenicity in soft agar of various leukemic cell lines, such as HL-60, KG-1, and K-562 cells. Interferon also induces a decrease in the self-renewal capacity of leukemic myeloblasts––that is, the ability of cloned cells to form secondary colonies when recultured. Growth inhibition induced by crude and recombinant interferon (IFN)-α and IFN-β in the established human promyelocytic leukemic cell line HL-60, does not involve an induction of terminal differentiation, whereas recent studies indicate that IFN-γ can induce antigenic and biochemical changes normally associated with the differentiation of HL-60 cells into monocytes and granulocytes. The methods employed for evaluating the effect of interferon on colony formation of normal and leukemic myeloid progenitor cells, as well as for continuously cultured human leukemic cell lines, share several common features.