Heterotransplantation and maturation of a chronic myelogenous leukemia cell line (KCL-22) in vivo.

Heterotransplantation was performed to study the maturational capacity of a new Ph1 chromosome-positive chronic myelogenous leukemia cell line (KCL-22). Five million KCL-22 cells of undifferentiated blasts were implanted intraperitoneally into 15 immunosuppressed newborn hamsters. Of the 15 hamsters, 10 that survived developed granulocytic tumors 16-61 days after implantation. The tumor cells were composed of a mixed population of undifferentiated blasts, neutrophils, and eosinophils and had a human female karyotype with double Ph1 chromosomes identical to that found in the KCL-22 cell line used for transplantation. These findings indicate that Ph1 chromosome-positive cells can be induced to mature along the neutrophil-eosinophil lineage after growth in the heterologous hosts.