My. Lisovsky et Vg. Savchenko, DEFECT OF STROMAL MICROENVIRONMENT IN LONG-TERM BONE-MARROW CULTURES OF PATIENTS WITH ACUTE AND CHRONIC MYELOGENOUS LEUKEMIAS, Leukemia & lymphoma, 19(1-2), 1995, pp. 145-152
Inhibition of normal hemopoiesis is a regular finding in acute (AML) a
nd chronic (CML) myelogenous leukemias and functional abnormalities of
the hemopoietic microenvironment may be involved in this regard. In o
rder to evaluate this possibility we studied the formation of adherent
stromal cell layers (ASCL) in long term bone marrow cultures (LTBMC)
of 7 patients with CML and 7 patients with AML and examined the abilit
y of these ASCLs to support hemopoiesis after irradiation and a second
inoculation of bone marrow cells. The formation of ASCLs was signific
antly impaired in CML and AML. These CML patients and 3 AML patients d
id not form typical ASCLs and the cellularity of these layers was grea
tly reduced, Colony forming unit granulocyte-macrophage (CFU-GM) produ
ction from bone marrow cells seeded on normal irradiated ASCLs peaked
at week 3 and then gradually decreased by week 8. In CML and AML cocul
tures CFU-GM numbers decreased rapidly to zero by weeks 4-6 and did no
t differ significantly from the control cultures which did not contain
preestablished ASCLs beginning from week 3. It is suggested that ther
e may be a functional microenvironmental defect in CML and AML that ma
y play a role in the pathogenesis of inhibition of normal hemopoiesis
in these diseases.