T-lymphocyte cell lines derived from patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Several lymphoid cell lines with thymus-dependent lymphocyte (T-cell) characteristics have been established from 2 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). These cell lines are considered to be leukemic T-cells on the basis of their abnormal chromosome constitution, growth in heterologous animals, ability to form rosettes with sheep red blood cells and the absence of immunoglobulin production, and destruction by antithymus cell sera. Sera from patients with leukemia did not react with these cultured cells but there was a strong reaction with infectious mononucleosis sera despite the fact that the cultured leukemia T-cells had no detectable Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) nor its genome.