International Journal of Cell Cloning, Vol 1, 324-342, Copyright © 1983 by AlphaMed Press
Stem cells and immunological parameters in mice during the latency period and after the development of chemically induced leukemia
HJ Seidel, S Pfeiffer and L Kreja
T-cell leukemias have been induced in adult BDF1 mice by 12 or 15 weeks of
exposure to butylnitrosourea (BNU) in the drinking water. This led to a
depression of CFU-S numbers and reduced T- and B-cell responses to
mitogens. These parameters were then studied during the BNU-free
preleukemic latency period in individual mice. At the same time, leukemic
cells were traced in the thymus, the spleen, and the bone marrow by
transplantation. In mice without leukemia and mice with leukemic cells in
only one organ, there was a general tendency to normal CFU-S numbers and T-
and B-cell responses with time after BNU, although control levels were
reached in only a few of the mice. The reaction of mixed lymphocyte
cultures (MLC) remained low during the latency period. In the thymus an
imbalance of the Con A, PHA, and MLC responses was observed. Out of 25 mice
with induced leukemia, 8 had leukemic cells in the thymus only and 2 in the
marrow only. In mice with leukemic cells in all 3 hemopoietic organs and an
enlargement of the spleen, a shift of CFU-S from the marrow to the spleen
was observed.
