Clonal origin of radiation-induced myeloid leukemia in mice with cellular mosaicism.

The clonal origin of radiation-induced myeloid leukemia was studied in mice with cellular mosaicism for phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK). A single whole-body X-irradiation of 3 Gy resulted in development of 11 myeloid leukemias in 198 mosaic mice (5.6%). PGK of spleen cells from 9 myeloid leukemias assayed gave only a single band on electrophoresis. PGK of red blood cells (RBC) from one myeloid leukemia gave a single band identical to that of PGK of leukemic cells, while PGK of RBC from 4 other myeloid leukemias gave two bands. From these results, we concluded that radiation-induced myeloid leukemias in mice were of single cell origin, and that the origin of some myeloid leukemias might be a progenitor cell capable of differentiating into both erythroid and myeloid series.