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Thymus Function in Spontaneous Lymphoid Leukemia

II. In Vitro Response of "preleukemic" and Leukemic Thymus Cells to Mitogens¹

From the Division of Allergy and Pulmonary Diseases, Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710

Abstract

Lymphoid cells from normal, "preleukemic" and leukemic AKR mice were cultured in vitro to evaluate their response to mitogens, concanavalin A (Con A) and phytohemagglutinin (PHA).

Normal thymus cells were stimulated by Con A to increase their ³H-thymidine uptake 455-fold (median) whereas the thymidine uptake by autologous leukemic thymus cells was increased only 5-fold by Con A, the latter response resembling that of normal bone marrow cells. The median increases in thymidine uptake by "preleukemic" 4- and 5-month-old thymus cells stimulated by Con A were 280-fold and 269-fold, respectively. Failure in the thymic function to convert Con A-unresponsive bone marrow precursor cells to Con A-responsive normal thymus cells appears to precede leukemogenesis in the thymus of AKR mice.

Footnotes

¹ This study was supported by American Cancer Society Grant ET-54.