A human-mouse hybrid cell line that stably expresses chemotaxis to N-formylmethionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine.

Human leukocytes, which contain monocytes and neutrophils that exhibit chemotaxis to fMet-Leu-Phe, were fused with the mouse macrophage RAW264-TG3 cell line, which exhibits chemotaxis to endotoxin-activated mouse serum but not to fMet-Leu-Phe. From such fusions twelve cell lines were isolated, all of which migrated to endotoxin-activated mouse serum. Four of the cell lines also exhibited chemotaxis to fMet-Leu-Phe, and of these cell lines, only one, WBC264-9, retained the capacity to migrate to fMet-Leu-Phe after culture for 20 or more passages. Determination of the number of chromosomes and analysis of the electrofocusing patterns of human and mouse hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase activity showed that WBC264-9 was derived from a human-mouse cell fusion. WBC264-9, a stable macrophage cell line that exhibits chemotaxis to fMet-Leu-Phe, provides a model system to investigate attractant-specific biochemical reactions.