Heterotransplantation of human leukemic B-cell, T-cell and null-cell lines in hamsters.

Human leukemic B-cell (BALL-1), T-cell (TALL-1) and null-cell (NALL-1) lines have been established from three patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). To study the heterotransplantability and in vivo growth characteristics, attempts were made to transplant these ALL cell lines into newborn Syrian hamsters treated with rabbit anti-hamster thymocyte serum. Intraperitoneal implantation of 1.8-3.5 x 10(7) cells gave rise to invasive tumors in all recipients after 15 to 41 days. In addition to a common in vivo feature of mesenteric and retroperitoneal tumors, BALL-1 line was characterized by infiltration of the skin, massive ascites and bone marrow invasion. TALL-1 cells infiltrated various organs including the lymph nodes, liver, gallbladder, spleen, bone marrow, central nervous system and eyes. NALL-1 line grew slowly, producing the least tumors, although there were distant metastases in the lungs. Tumor cells were detected in the blood of 2 of 3 BALL-1-bearing hamsters and in the blood of 4 of 5 TALL-1-bearing hamsters. Thus, these three ALL cell lines were found to exhibit a characteristic biological behavior in hamsters, which might be related to the different cell lineage.