Selective isolation of murine erythropoietin-responsive progenitor cells (CFU-E) with monoclonal antibodies

Erythropoietin-responsive progenitor cells (CFU-E) from normal mouse foetal liver have been substantially purified on the basis of their differential binding to two monoclonal antibodies in conjunction with flow cytometry. This has allowed the formal identification of the foetal liver CFU-E as an early erythroid blast cell with a highly basophilic cytoplasm. It has also been possible to show a quantitative association of a membrane marker with proliferative potential within a single differentiation lineage. This is the first demonstration of such an association. Progenitor cells enriched in this way should allow study of the molecular mechanisms of erythropoietin action and also serve as a target for determining the cellular specificity of erythroid-transforming viruses.