Propagation and characterization of human blood basophils

Basophils were isolated and propagated in large numbers from the blood of patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia. Propagation over 4-6 weeks of culture was dependent upon a growth factor(s) other than interleukin-2 obtained from a lectin-stimulated clone of the Jurkat cell line. Evidence that these basophils were dividing during culture included an increase in both the number of basophils and the histamine content of the cultures over time, as well as ultrastructural studies that demonstrated basophil cell division. The cells also had the capacity to be stimulated in an IgE-dependent manner characteristic of basophils. Cultured basophils passively sensitized with IgE underwent noncytotoxic degranulation after stimulation with specific antigen. Antigen-stimulated basophils released histamine, leukotrienes B4 and C4 and other 5-lipoxygenase products of arachidonic acid metabolism. Culture models such as this may permit the propagation and purification of sufficient numbers of basophils to allow biochemical and immunological analyses of basophil physiology.