Bone marrow stromal culture from patients with myelodysplastic syndromes and patients at different stages of acute nonlymphocytic leukaemia.
The haematopoietic microenvironment or stroma plays a decisive role for the proliferation and differentiation of haemopoietic cells. We studied if bone marrow cells from patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and acute nonlymphocytic leukaemias (ANLL) are altered in their ability to form adherent stromal layer with active haemopoiesis in the Dexter liquid culture. Bone marrow cells were obtained from 24 normal volunteers, 28 patients with ANLL in different stages of the disease and 9 patients with MDS. There are no differences between the stromal layers of patients with ANLL in complete remission and those of normal volunteers after two weeks of cultivation. However, bone marrow cells from patients with ANLL before treatment and from patients in relapse formed a poor adherent stromal layer in most cases. In 6 of 9 cases we found the normal stromal grade of bone marrow cells from patients with MDS. There were qualitative differences in the nonadherent cell population between normal and ANLL patients in complete remission. In most cases we found morphologically recognizable erythroid cells after two-weeks Dexter liquid culture of bone marrow cells from patients with ANLL in complete remission, which were not seen with normal volunteers. This could be an indication of harmful effects on the balance of haematopoiesis caused by previous infiltration with leukaemic cells or/and high-dose chemotherapy.
Elstner
E
E
Hämatologischen Abteilung, Bereiches Medizin (Charité), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
Wächter
M
M
Ihle
R
R
D001854:Bone Marrow Cells; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000473:pathology*; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000473:pathology*