Long-term establishment of a human plasmacyte cell line derived from a patient with IgD multiple myeloma. I. Requirement of a plasmacyte-stimulating factor for the proliferation of myeloma cells in tissue culture.

Cell line LA-49, derived from pleural fluid cells of a patient with IgD multiple myeloma, was established in culture and maintained for more than 1 yr. The D-myeloma protein produced in culture was similar to the serum D-myeloma protein in electrophoretic mobility and in delta- and lambda-chain antigens. The plasma cell tumor culture, LA-49, differed from numerous immunoglobulin-producing B-lymphoblastoid cell lines established in this laboratory in: (a) Morphology (revealing various stages of maturation); (b) type of immunoglobulin produced (IgD vs. IgM, IgG, and/or, rarely, IgA); (c) growth characteristics (requirement of plasmacyte-stimulating factor); and (d) chromosomal features (polyploid vs. pseudodiploid). A growth factor was needed for cell division and maintenance of culture viability. This factor was supplied readily by irradiated feeder layers of normal human fibroblasts or conditional media from fibroblast cultures. Preliminary characterization of this factor revealed it to be a protein with a mol wt of approximately 150,000 daltons.