Clonal analysis of basophil differentiation in bone marrow cultures from a Down's syndrome patient with megakaryoblastic leukemia

We present the in vitro differentiation of marrow cells from a patient with Down's syndrome accompanied by megakaryoblastic leukemia into basophils in the presence of phytohemagglutinin-stimulated leukocyte conditioned medium, using a liquid culture and methylcellulose culture system. Identification of basophils was established by metachromatic staining with toluidine blue, transmission electron microscopy, and the presence of histamine. However, these basophils did not release histamine in response to calcium ionophore or chemotactic peptide. Samples from suspension cultures that contained 90% basophils showed chromosomal markers characteristic of leukemic cells (48, XY, +11, +21, t(1;15)) in all examined mitoses. The cellular composition of leukemic colonies grown in methylcellulose culture from single cells was studied using the micromanipulation technique. High plating efficiency and extreme predominance of basophil colonies were observed. In a total 137 cultures, 79 revealed colony growth. Of 59 colonies that were analyzed by cytologic examination, 46 were pure basophil colonies. These basophil colonies showed disperse morphology, similar to that of a normal basophil colony. The clonality of the basophil colonies and skewing of lineage expression were documented from leukemic single-cell cultures. These data showed that leukemic cells have the capacity for differentiation into some lineages that are not expressed in vivo.