Participation of Leukemia Cells in Immune Responses

Abstract

Many tumors preserve morphological and also functional characteristics of the tissue they have originated from, e.g., they may secrete mucus, bile or milk, form bone or cartilage, grow hairs, accumulate pigment, generate action potentials, respond to hormonal stimuli, etc. This also applies to leukemia cells in that the existing classification of leukemias is based on morphological resemblances between malignant and normal cells, and that recent technical and conceptual progress permits further subclassification on the basis of the presence or absence of special markers, such as the surface immunoglobulins, receptors for antigen, Fc fragment of immunoglobulin, or complement, T-antigens, etc. (15). It has also been shown that leukemia cells share several functional properties with their normal counterparts, such as phagocytosis, Chemotaxis, secretion and release of lysozyme, immunoglobulin and interferon, growth in colonies (in vivo or in vitro), and recirculation from blood to lymph (2, 7, 8, 9, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23). The ability of transfusions of leukocytes obtained from donors with chronic myeloid leukemia to combat septicemia (10) is evidently due to the fact that these cells phagocytose, respond to chemotactic stimuli, and kill bacteria by lysozyme or otherwise.