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.

Establishment of cell lines derived from chronic lymphocytic leukaemic cells by transfection with myc and ras.

Seventy-one samples from 37 cases of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) were transfected with human c-myc and/or N-ras. In only three cases did the CLL cells further transform and four cell lines were established following transfection with myc plus ras. Surface marker profiles and immunoglobulin gene rearrangement studies confirm that all cell lines have arisen from the original CLL cells.

Characteristics of a cell line established from a T cell acute leukemia by transfection with the bcl-2 gene.

The bcl-2 gene product inhibits apoptosis and thus its over-expression may promote development of the malignant phenotype under certain circumstances. We have introduced the bcl-2 alpha and bcl-2 beta genetic elements into T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemic blasts. These transfectants were able to survive and grow in liquid culture with the establishment of cell lines while the untransfected blast cells died off.

Paracentric inversion 11q in Canadian Hutterites.

Four Canadian Hutterite families were found to carry the paracentric inversion inv(11)(q21q23). We did not document any adverse effects that could be directly attributable to this inversion. It is possible that the mutation that caused this inversion is the same mutation hypothesized as the cause of the inversion in families from the Netherlands.