Z-138 - A NEW MATURE B-CELL ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC-LEUKEMIA CELL-LINE FROM A PATIENT WITH TRANSFORMED CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC-LEUKEMIA

We describe a new mature B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cel l line designated Z-138 that was derived from a patient with chronic l ymphocytic leukemia (CLL) whose disease underwent transformation to a rare, aggressive form of mature B-cell ALL. This cell line has an L3 m orphology, ultrastructural characteristics of lymphoblasts, B-lineage surface markers and an immunoglobulin heavy-chain gene rearrangement i dentical to the rearrangement observed in the patient's blasts from wh om the cell line was derived. Z-138 cells produce granulocyte-macropha ge colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and high levels of granulocyte-C SF (G-CSF), but they do not exhibit a proliferative response to either cytokine. Both the patient's lymphoblasts and Z-138 cells exhibited c ytogenetic abnormalities including t(8;14), t(14;18) and a chromosome 11 abnormality similar to the t(11;14) of the parental cells, resultin g in marked overexpression of cyclin D1 (BCL-1 (PRAD1)) mRNA in Z-135 cells. Since these karyotypic anomalies have been associated with low grade (t(14;18)), intermediate grade (t(11;14)) and high grade (t(8;14 )) lymphomas, their development may be involved in the unusual aggress ive transformation of this patient's CLL. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Lt d. All rights reserved.