An in vitro study of basophil production in chronic myeloproliferative disorders

An examination was carried out of certain parameters of basophil production in semisolid agar cultures by granulomonocyte precursors (CFU-C) from normal subjects and from patients with chronic myeloproliferative disorders. Basophils were rare in the first four days of culture, after which their number increased gradually to reach a plateau on about the 12th day. Pure basophil colonies were frequent only in cultures from a patient with marked basophilia. In the other cases the colonies also included other cells of the granulomonocyte pathway. There was a linear correlation between basophilia in vivo and basophil production in vitro. The latter, however, was influenced by the type of colony-stimulating activity (CSA) used. Different CSA sources, inducing the production of a comparable number of colonies, did not stimulate basophilic differentiation in the same way. Serum from patients with chronic myelocytic leukemia and varying degrees of basophilia did not have a significant effect on autologous in vitro basophilopoiesis, nor did it increase that of normal CFU-C.