Proliferation and cell loss of human leukemic cell subpopulations in liquid culture.

A kinetic study was performed on leukemic blasts from patients with acute myeloid leukemia, separated into 2 subpopulations by a specific density gradient. The growth curve and the [3H]-thymidine uptake were simultaneously analyzed. While cumulative nucleotide uptake fitted with the growth kinetics in the low-density fraction, such a concordance was not found in the high-density subpopulation. That indicated the occurrence of simultaneous growth and loss in the high density fraction, which could not be evaluated by a simple numerical determination.