Induction of differentiation of human acute myelogenous leukemia cells: therapeutic implications

A prominent phenotypic abnormality of human acute myelogenous leukemia cells is the inability of the cells to differentiate to functional mature cells; instead, the cells are blocked at an early stage of development and remain in the proliferative pool and rapidly accumulate. Investigation of the induction of myeloid leukemic cell differentiation has made recent advances with the development of several human myelogenous leukemia cell lines. The lines provide models to study the biology of myeloid differentiation and to identify inducers of differentiation of myeloid leukemic blood cells. This review critically examines the inducers of leukemic cell differentiation and their potential therapeutic importance.