Effect of leukaemic sera & cell-extracts on splenic colony counts (CFU-S)

Sera and leukaemic cell extracts from patients of acute leukaemia were evaluated for their effect on the repopulating ability of the pluripotent stem cells and erythroid differentiation by an in vivo splenic colony count (CFU-S) technique. Normal donor marrow cells of mice were treated with sera and cell extracts from patients of acute leukaemic and healthy controls and injected in the recipient mice. The CFU-S performed on the seventh day to assess repopulating ability of the stem cell showed consistently lower CFU-S counts in the test groups, with leukaemic sera (P less than 0.01) as well as leukaemic cell-extracts (P less than 0.001). The erythroid differentiation assessed by 59Fe uptake by the spleens also showed significantly reduced counts in the two test groups (P less than 0.01 and less than 0.001 respectively). The results indicate that both leukaemic sera and cell-extracts exert a significant suppressive effect on the repopulating ability of the stem cells and on their erythroid differentiation.