In Vitro Growth of Normal and Leukemic Human Bone Marrow

Human bone marrow grown in an enriched methylcellulose culture medium and stimulated in vitro by the supernatant from a monolayer culture of human embryo kidney cells produced granulocytic, mononuclear, and mixed cell colonies. Bone marrow from normal individuals regularly formed from 8–48 colonies per 2 × 105 marrow nucleated cells (immature nucleated cells), whereas marrow from patients with acute leukemia (myelocytic and lymphocytic) in relapse did not grow to form colonies. Marrow from patients with acute leukemia in remission and from patients with chronic myelocytic leukemia formed normal numbers of granulocytic and mononuclear cell colonies. Two patients with acute myelocytic leukemia in remission, but with granulocytic hyperplasia in the marrow, exhibited excessive colony production. This technique may help assess the status of disease in patients with acute leukemia.