Inhibitor of hematopoietic cell proliferation derived from a human leukemic cell line.

A continuously growing human myeloid leukemia cell line (K562) produced a potent high-molecular-weight inhibitor of hematopoietic cell proliferation. It was most active against myeloid stem cells (CFU-C) and proliferating T lymphocytes; it was less active against erythroid precursors (CFU-E) and did not inhibit fibroblasts or established lines of epithelioid cells or B lymphocytes. Inhibition of CFU-C was by direct interaction rather than by modulation of production of colony-stimulating activity and probably occurred at restricted points in the cell cycle. Inhibition could, within limits, be reversed by washing the target cells. Production of inhibitors of hematopoiesis is not a general property of established cell lines, and only two have thus far been identified in screening of 30 such lines.