A novel human leukaemic cell line, CTS, has a t(6;11) chromosomal translocation and characteristics of pluripotent stem cells

A novel human leukaemic cell line, designated CTS, was established from the peripheral blood of a 13-year-old girl suffering from acute myeloblastic leukaemia (AML) in relapse, CTS cells expressed CD7, CD13, CD33, CD34 and HLA-DR antigens, and showed ultrastructural myeloperoxidase activity. in addition, CTS cells showed DNA rearrangements of the immunoglobulin heavy chain gene and the light kappa chain gene, and deletions of the T-cell receptor delta(1) gene. Cytogenetic analysis revealed a human female diploid karyotype with a t(6:11)(q27:q23) chromosomal translocation, Molecular studies demonstrated a DNA rearrangement of the MLL gene, the expression of a truncated 11.0 kb MLL mRNA and the detection of the MLLI/AF-6 fusion transcript in CTS cells, To our knowledge, this cell line is the first report of a human leukaemic cell line with a t(6;11) chromosomal translocation, CTS cells showed no significant proliferative response to the cytokines, IL-2, IL-3, IL-6, IL-11, GM-CSF, G-CSF, EPO, SCF, but, were induced to differentiate to the T-cell. B-cell, erythroid or megakaryocytic lineage in the presence of particular cytokines. This CTS cell line may provide a useful tool in the study. of the oncogenesis of mixed Lineage leukaemia with 11q23 abnormalities and for the analysis of growth and differentiation of pluripotent stem cells.