Induction of interleukin-2 receptor alpha chain expression of immature acute myelocytic leukemia cells.

Leukemic cells from 27 adult patients with acute myelocytic leukemia (AML) were investigated to determine the cell surface inducibility of interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R) in in vitro culture with and without interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta). IL-2R alpha chain (IL-2R alpha) was induced on leukemic cells in 11 of 27 cases. Most of the cases could induce IL-2R alpha spontaneously without IL-1 beta, while the IL-2R beta chain (IL-2R beta) did not appear on leukemic cells from any of the cases tested. AML cases expressing CD7 or HLA-DR antigen could induce IL-2R alpha more frequently than any other type of AML. Among interleukin-3 (IL-3), granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and G-CSF, IL-3 showed a more prominent effect on DNA synthesis in IL-2R alpha inducible cases than in its uninducible cases. These results suggest that IL-2R alpha but not IL-2R beta was easily inducible on AML cells with immature characteristics.