Establishment and characterization of a new human Burkitt's lymphoma cell line (WSU-BL)

A new human cell line, WSU-BL, was established from a malignant ascitic fluid occurring in a patient with Burkitt's lymphoma. The established line grows in a single-cell suspension with a doubling time of 19 hours and expresses L3 morphologic features by the French-American-British classification. Immunologic study revealed that WSU-BL cells express IgM-lambda both in the cytoplasm and on the surface and react with monoclonal antibodies to B-cell antigens (B1, B4, BL3, BL4, HLA-DR, and common acute lymphoblastic leukemia antigen [CALLA]). These cells are negative for T-cell and myeloid/monocyte antigens as well as Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen (EBNA). These results suggest that WSU-BL corresponds to an intermediate stage of B-cell differentiation. Both fresh tumor and WSU-BL cells had a hyperdiploid karyotype carrying the 8;14 chromosome translocation. Molecular studies showed that WSU-BL has a rearrangement of c-myc proto-oncogene and expresses c-myc RNA. Phorbol ester 12-0-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) were able to induce several phenotypic changes on WSU-BL cells. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of total cellular protein showed that either TPA or IFN-gamma induced both the synthesis or loss of several proteins. Analysis of the protein patterns indicated that some proteins were uniquely responsive to either TPA or IFN-gamma and others were common to both. This cell line should be valuable for future studies of cell proliferation, differentiation, and oncogenesis concerning this neoplasm.