Abstract
The mononuclear peripheral blood cells from eight patients with chronic myelocytic leukaemia (CML) were incubated in cell suspension culture in the presence of the phorbolester 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA). TPA caused the treated cells to adhere and to acquire morphological and functional features characteristic of macrophage-like cells. Using isoelectric focusing distinct changes in the isoenzyme profiles of carboxylic esterase, acid phosphatase, hexosaminidase and lactate dehydrogenase were detected in the TPA-exposed cells. Besides an increase in the number and staining intensity of isoenzymes of all enzymes, TPA triggered the new expression of a monocyte-specific esterase isoenzyme isoenzyme and of the tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase isoenzyme. The latter two isoenzymes represent further parameters of the monocyte/macrophage complex. The results indicate that immature leukaemic cells arrested along the granulocytic cell axis retain the ability to transform to macrophages.
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