Murine macrophage cell lines can be ordered in a linear differentiation sequence.

The present study investigated whether transformed macrophage cell lines represent certain stages in macrophage differentiation. Cell surface markers linked to macrophage differentiation were characterized in 11 murine macrophage cell lines and compared with markers on isolated resident and exudate peritoneal macrophages. Furthermore, the capacity of the cell lines to phagocytose latex microspheres was analyzed. This analysis indicated that cell lines arrested at an early differentiation stage were characterized by the expression of the 'immature' markers Thy-1 and MIV 113, and the lack of expression of 'mature' macrophage markers such as Mac-1, Mac-2, and F4/80. More mature cell lines, which do not express 'immature' markers, show an increase in the expression of 'mature' macrophage markers. Furthermore, the expression of the 'mature' markers was found to be correlated with the phagocytic capacity of the cells. We have ordered the cell lines in a linear differentiation sequence based on these data. We propose that this sequence represents various stages in the differentiation of macrophages. This panel of cell lines provides a new model of early macrophage differentiation.