Differentiation of human acute myelogenous leukemia cells: therapeutic possibilities.

Human myeloid leukemia cells have a growth advantage over normal cells because they do not differentiate into functional end-cells but remain in the proliferative pool. Several agents have been identified as inducers of differentiation of leukemia cells; among them are the retinoids, 1 alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 and human tumor necrosis factor alpha, which will be discussed in the following chapter.