Characteristics of a cell line established from a case of acute megakaryoblastic leukemia

Acute megakaryoblastic leukemia is uncommon and comprises about 5% of acute nonlymphoid leukemias in the French-American-British classification. Cell lines from such leukemias are relatively rare with only about 8 reported in the literature, We established a cell line from a case of acute megakaryoblastic leukemia arising in a 2-year-old child, Surface marker studies of the cells confirmed their megakaryoblastic nature, with 54% of the cells being CD61 positive and peroxidase and esterase negative, The cells had a doubling time of 72 h. Emperipolesis (a phenomenon in which a cell, usually a lymphocyte or neutrophil, enters another cell, moves about and leaves without undergoing phagocytosis) of one blast into another, larger one, was occasionally seen, and a review of the original bone marrow specimen also showed emperipolesis of neutrophils into the megakaryoblasts, The cells responded to interleukin 3 and were inhibited with all-trans-retinoic acid, The karyotype of the cells was the 46,XX,-16 with a marker chromosome, The marker chromosome is possibly chromosome 16 with a small segment of a chromosome translocated to the terminal portion of chromosome 16.