On the role of endogenously produced TNF-alpha and IL-6 as regulators of growth and differentiation of B-type chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells in vitro.

Abstract

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia of CD5+ B cells is clinically a heterogeneous disease [1]. This heterogeneity is also easily demonstrable in vitro [2]. In the vast majority of the cases B-CLL is a malignancy of CD5+ B cells with a very low capacity for proliferation in peripheral blood and with a phenotype resembling that of virgin [2] and mantle zone memory [3] B cells. In some cases the stage of differentiation is more advanced, as reflected by the capacity of the leukemic cells to secrete immunoglobulin [Ig]. In other rare cases Ig production may be very low and undetectable by immunofluorescence. The possibility that B-CLL might be a disease of differentiating leukemic B cells has not been extensively studied, but our own unpublished observations suggest that the stage of differentiation of the B-CLL cells may be different in peripheral lymphoid organs and in the bone marrow of the patient than in the peripheral blood, and the capacity for proliferation seems often to be about a 10-fold higher in these tissues.KeywordsChronic Lymphocytic LeukemiaPhorbol Myristic AcetateHairy Cell LeukemiaChronic Lymphocytic Leukemia CellPeripheral Lymphoid OrganThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.