Interaction of the hemolytic lectin, CEL-III, with cultured human leukemiccell lines

We studied interaction of GEL-III with cultured human leukemic cell lines a nd lymphocytes from normal adults by evaluating the extent of cytotoxicity and cytoagglutination, Among acute T lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) cell li nes, GEL-III displayed increased toxicity against different acute lymphobla stic leukemia (ALL) cell lines as a function of increasing differentiation stage. In the case of acute B lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) cell lines, GE L-III showed strong cytotoxicity against relatively immature cell lines. We found that GEL-III was more toxic for ALL cell lines than leukocytes obtai ned from peripheral blood of healthy adults. Strong influence of the additi onal amount of calcium ion on the extent of cytotoxicity was observed. In a ddition, we describe a new way to evaluate the extent of cytoagglutination in "% of agglutinated cells." These findings make GEL-III a promising candi date in research for lectins which bind to and destroy only the targeted le ukemic cells.