Bcr-abl-induced cell lines can switch from mast cell to erythroid or myeloid differentiation in vitro

Abstract

The chimeric bcr-abl gene formed by the Philadelphia translocation is thought to initiate chronic myeloid leukemia. Engraftment of mice with bone marrow cells infected with a bcr-abl retrovirus has been shown to elicit multiple hematopoietic disorders, including a clonal but nontransplantable hyperproliferation of erythroid and/or mast cells. Culture of spleen and bone marrow cells from such mice usually yielded mast cell lines, even when erythroid disease dominated the primary animal. The mast cells, which carried the same proviral insert as the primary disease, generally grew slowly and were neither transplantable nor clonogenic in agar until they had been cultured for several months. Unex..