A novel leukemia cell line, MR-87, with positive Philadelphia chromosome and negative breakpoint cluster region rearrangement coexpressing myeloid and early B-cell markers.

We developed a Philadelphia chromosome (Ph) positive cell line, designated MR-87, from a 4-year-old boy with Ph+-acute leukemia. MR-87 cells grew in single cell suspensions with a doubling time of 120 to 144 hours. Both MR-87 and original leukemia cells were positive for myeloperoxidase (MPO) and myeloid antigen CD13. These cells exhibited the early B-cell phenotype, ie, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase+, Ia+, CD19+, and CD10+. Rearrangement of the immunoglobulin heavy chain was confirmed in both. Approximately 80% of MR-87 cells coexpressed CD13 and lymphoid antigens CD10 or CD19, as confirmed by a two-color analysis. Simultaneous expression of MPO and CD19 on a single MR-87 cell was demonstrated at ultrastructural level. Thus, MR-87 is a Ph+ leukemia cell line exhibiting a hybrid phenotype. The breakpoint cluster region (bcr) was not rearranged in the MR-87 cells and subsequent analysis using antisera revealed that these cells expressed a novel protein, P190c-abl, which was immunoprecipitated with anti-abl and anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies. The MR-87 line will be most useful for investigating the biology and pathogenesis of Ph+ bcr- acute leukemia.