A NEW HAIRY CELL LEUKEMIA CELL LINE

A NEW CELL LINE, DESIGNATED "HDS", WAS ESTABLISHED IN A SUSPENSION CULTURE DERIVED FROM THE PERIPHERAL BLOOD OF A PATIENT WITH HAIRY CELL LEUKEMIA (HCL), AND THE PERSON HAS DEVELOPED CLINICAL RESISTANCE TO ALPHA-INTERFERON THERAPY. THE PATIENT EXHIBITED A CLINICAL PICTURE CHARACTERISTIC OF HCL, INCLUDING SPLENOMEGALY, CYTOPENIAS, AND TARTRATE-RESISTANT ACID PHOSPHATASE (TRAP)-POSITIVE "HAIRY" CELLS IN BLOOD AND MARROW. ULTRA-STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF THE CULTURED CELLS, AT THE SINGLE CELL LEVEL, REVEALED A DISPLAY OF MICROVILLI, MIXED WITH RUFFLES ON THE CELL SURFACE IN A CLASSICAL HAIRY CELL PATTERN. THE ESTABLISHED CELL LINE HAS THE PHENOTYPE OF A B-TYPE CELL AS JUDGED BY CYTOCHEMISTRY AND IMMUNOLABELING. HDS CELLS HAVE HLA-DR AND CD19 SURFACE ANTIGENS, BUT SHOWN NEGATIVE RESULTS FOR EARLY B(CD10) AND EARLY T (CD2, CD3) CELL MARKERS. THESE CELLS ARE NEGATIVE FOR HCL MARKERS SUCH AS CD11C, CD22, AND CD25. HDS CELLS ARE ALSO NEGATIVE FOR T-CELLS, MYELOCYTIC, AND MONOCYTIC MARKERS. IN PHASE I AND II, STUDIES ARE PLANNED TO DETERMINE THE EXACT DIFFERENTIATION STAGE OF THE HDS CELLS, AND TO DEVELOP A NOVEL SUBCLASS OF B-TYPE HCL CELLS, HDS CELLS FOR CLINICAL ASSAYS, DIAGNOSIS, DETECTION AND TREATMENT. THIS WORK IS IMPORTANT IN CLINICAL HEMATOLOGY RESEARCH DIAGNOSIS.