Expression of Aur-A in freshly isolated leukemia cells and the cytotoxicity of AUR-1 against freshly isolated leukemia cells. (A) Expression of Aur-A mRNA in freshly isolated leukemia cells, normal PBMCs, and PHA-stimulated T lymphocytes. Expression levels of Aur-A mRNA in freshly isolated leukemia cells and normal cells were determined using samples obtained from 7 patients with ALL, 17 patients with AML, 10 patients with CML in chronic phase, 4 healthy individuals, and PHA-stimulated T lymphoblasts obtained from 3 healthy individuals. To prepare PHA-stimulated T lymphoblasts, PBMCs were cultured in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 10% FCS and PHA at an appropriate concentration for 4 days. The level of Aur-A mRNA in normal PBMCs is shown as 1.0 and the expression levels in samples were calculated relative to this value. (B) Cytotoxicity of AUR-1 against freshly isolated leukemia cells and normal cells. The cytotoxicity of AUR-1 against HLA-A*0201–positive and HLA-A*0201–negative freshly isolated leukemia cells, HLA-A*0201–positive normal PBMCs, and HLA-A*0201–positive normal PHA-stimulated T lymphoblasts was determined by ⁵¹Cr-release assays at E:T ratios of 20:1, 10:1, and 5:1. Expression levels of Aur-A mRNA in samples are also shown.