Surface morphology and membrane phenotype of cultured human leukemia-lymphoma cells. A scanning electron microscopic study of 36 cell lines.

Scanning electron microscopy and immunologic methods, to detect the expression of a variety of surface markers, were performed on cells from 36 established human leukemia-lymphoid cell lines. Attempts were made to correlate the surface morphologic findings with the membrane phenotype as determined by the presence or absence of a number of specific antigens and B- or T-cell markers. Thirteen of the cell lines were of the T-lymphoid type, 15 B-derived, and eight were defined as non-B non-T in nature. All the lines derived from patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) had similar surface topographies and generally displayed relatively smooth surfaces with few microvilli, while in some a proportion of moderately villous cells was evident. Burkitt's lymphoma cells tended to show more villous surfaces but, similar to circulating B-ALL cells, variable numbers of microvilli were frequently seen making consistent distinctions between this and other lymphoid leukemias difficult in individual cases. Two of the non-B non-T lines are known to be of erythroid (K-562) and myeloid origin (HL-60), respectively. In both these lines, cells with relatively few microprojections dominated; however, some showed transverse ridge-like profiles, a feature frequently encountered on circulating leukemic cells of myeloid type.