Established leukemia cell lines: their role in the understanding and control of leukemia proliferation

For investigation of mechanisms of leukemogenesis and control of proliferation of leukemia cells, various preleukemic hematopoietic progenitor cell lines and leukemia cell lines have been established. The role of these established cell lines in understanding leukemogenesis and control of leukemia cell proliferation is described. The results of studies on biological characteristics of numerous human leukemia-lymphoma cell lines suggest that the heterogeneity in various markers of the cell lines reflects different patterns of normal hematopoietic cell differentiation. Then, recent studies on the control of proliferation of leukemia cells by induction of terminal differentiation with the use of established leukemia cell lines both in vitro and in vivo are described. Therapeutic significance of the results obtained with these leukemia cell lines is also discussed.