Autocrine growth of leukemic cells.

Autocrine growth is a process whereby a cell both secretes and responds to a growth factor. This paper describes the stepwise malignant progression of leukemic cells which has been demonstrated in many experimental models of autocrine leukemic growth. In contrast, autocrine growth has not been proven as a major physiopathological mechanism for the growth of leukemic cells in vivo in human myeloid and lymphocytic leukemias. Growth-factor independency of human leukemic cell lines may be due to clonal selection.