Fatal polycythemia induced in mice by dysregulated erythropoietin production by hematopoietic cells.

C57BL/6J murine bone marrow cells, infected with a retroviral vector (MP Zen) carrying a monkey erythropoietin cDNA, were transplanted into lethally irradiated syngeneic recipients to study the effect of erythropoietin production by hemopoietic cells. High levels of erythropoietin were recorded in the plasma (median value: 1.2 u/ml) and in media conditioned by peritoneal, spleen, and bone marrow cells from recipient mice. In transplanted mice, the hematocrit was elevated (90 +/- 5%) and the mice died at a mean of 71 days after transplantation. In the blood, platelet counts were usually low and nucleated blood cells slightly elevated. Spleen weight increased 5-fold and bone marrow cellularity decreased slightly. There was a 9.9-fold increase in erythroblast numbers, a 2-fold reduction of lymphocytes, and no variation of the myeloid cells when the total cellularity of bone marrow, spleen, peripheral blood, and peritoneal cells were considered. Calculation of the total numbers of progenitor cells in these organs revealed a 18-fold increase in erythroid colony-forming units (CFU-E) but no significant variation of the erythroid burst-forming units (BFU-E), and myeloid progenitor cell numbers. A variable proportion of CFU-E, (12% or 24% in bone marrow or spleen, respectively) was able to proliferate in unstimulated cultures. Erythropoietic amplification occurred in the spleen and there was a redistribution of the BFU-E and myeloid cells from the bone marrow to the spleen. No significant extramedullary erythropoiesis was seen. This study emphasizes the erythroid specificity of erythropoietin and shows that elevated dysregulated erythropoietin production by hemopoietic cells leads to a fatal polycythemia without erythroid neoplastic transformation.     

Leukemic host influence on normal erythrocytic and granulocytic colony formation in in vivo plasma clot diffusion chamber cultures.

The effect of a leukemic environment on normal erythroid and granulocytic colony formation was examined in in vivo plasma clot diffusion chamber cultures implanted into Shay chloroleukemic rat hosts at varying stages of the disease. Normal bone marrow cells isolated in plasma clot diffusion chamber cultures in leukemic hosts displayed significant differences in the pattern of normal bone marrow colony growth. Granulocyte colony-forming units were significantly inhibited by leukemic hosts throughout the course of the disease. The size of developing colonies was reduced to under 100 cells; however, maturation within these clusters appeared unaffected. Erythroid colonies showed a slight inhibition during the early stages of the leukemia, a significant stimulation of 100 to 350% in the midleukemic period, and a significant inhibition of 50 to 65% during the terminal stages of the disease. Burst formation was also inhibited in the late leukemic stages. The transient increase in erythroid colony-forming units on Days 7 and 8 of the leukemia was concomitant with the onset of the anemia associated with the disease. Since the normal bone marrow cells were compartmentalized within the plasma clot diffusion chamber cultures, the suppression of erythroid and granulocytic colony development appears to be directly due to the release of diffusible inhibitory substances from the leukemic animal.     

Dynamics of leukemic and normal stem cells in leukemic RFM mice.

RFM mice spontaneously develop a myelogenous leukemia that is transplantable into nonleukemic RFM mice. On transplantation, hemopoietic stem cells from leukemic mice (L-CFU-S) will seed in the spleen and grow as discrete colonies, as will hemopoietic stem cells from normal mice (N-CFU-S). As the leukemic cells used in these experiments have 39 chromosomes and normal murine cells have 40, it has been possible to estimate the numbers of N-CFU-S and L-CFU-S in RFM mice at weekly intervals after these mice had been given i.v. injections of 10(6) leukemic spleen cells (spleen cells from preterminal leukemic mice). At each study time, splenic weights, peripheral blood counts, and nucleated cell counts and colony forming units (CFU-S) of marrow, spleen, and blood were assayed. The karyotypes of dividing cells from and the histology of the resultant spleen colonies were also studied. Two weeks after the injection of leukemic spleen cells, the number of CFU-S in the marrow had increased to 3 to 10 times normal, that in the spleen to 100 times normal, and that in the blood was markedly increased. Three weeks after injection, the number of CFU-S in the marrow fell from the peak level at 2 weeks, the number in the spleen rose modestly, and the number in the blood continued to be markedly increased. A normal distribution of erythroid, myeloid, and megakaryocytic colonies was obtained from CFU-S assayed 1 week after injection of leukemic spleen cells, but from CFU-S assayed 2 or 3 weeks after injection of leukemic spleen cells, the colonies formed were comprised almost exclusively of myeloid cells. From spleen colonies formed from marrow or spleen cells obtained 1 week after the injection of leukemic spleen cells, all karyotypes contained 40 chromosomes, whereas from spleen colonies formed from marrow or spleen cells obtained 2 or 3 weeks after injection of spleen cells, almost all karyotypes contained 39 chromosomes. In contrast, most of the karyotypes found in spleen colonies formed from the injection of blood cells even 3 weeks after injection of leukemic spleen cells contained 40 chromosomes. All colonies containing cells with 39 chromosomes, leukemic colonies, contained only myeloid cells. We conclude that L-CFU-S differentiate only into the myeloid series. Early in the course of the disease there is an increase in both N-CFU-S and L-CFU-S in the spleen and marrow. As the disease progresses, the numbers of N-CFU-S in both spleen and marrow decline and, during the final week of the illness, the number of L-CFU-S in the marrow declines. The CFU-S in the peripheral blood are predominantly of normal type, even late in the disease when N-CFU-S are rare in the spleen and marrow.     

Mechanisms of abnormal erythropoiesis in malignancy

In order the investigate mechanisms of diminished red cell production in malignancy, we assayed erythroid progenitor cell proliferative responses to erythropoietin in plasma clot cultures of bone marrow cells from 34 cancer patients. Erythroid colony growth by marrow cells of 11 healthy donors (means of 58 CFU-E and 19 BFU-E derived colonies/6 X 10(4) cells) was similar to that in cultures of cells from patients either with (means of 44 CFU-E and 22 BFU-E derived colonies/6 X 10(4) cells) or without (means of 50 CFU-E and 19 BFU-E derived colonies/6 X 10(4) cells) myelophthisis. Colony formation was normal at all erythropoietin concentrations tested, indicating that both the CFU-E and BFU-E retain normal erythropoietin sensitivity in vitro. CFU-E proliferation correlated negatively (r = -0.56; P less than 0.001) with the level of hemoglobin. In contrast to marrow cell proliferative responses to erythropoietin, serum erythropoietin levels were inappropriately reduced in all 19 patients in whom they were measured, a finding which may be important in the pathogenesis of anemia in patients with cancer.     

Transformation of early erythroid precursor cells (BFU-E) by a recombinant murine retrovirus containing v-erb-B

Avian erythroblastosis virus (AEV) is a replication-defective retrovirus that transforms erythroid and fibroblast cells in vitro and in vivo. The transforming ability of AEV is due primarily to the oncogene v-erb-B. A recombinant murine retrovirus has been constructed by inserting a chimeric gag-v-erb-B gene into a Moloney murine leukemia virus based vector. This retrovirus was used to examine v-erb-B-induced transformation of murine hematopoietic cells. Infection of murine primary fetal liver, adult bone marrow or adult spleen cells with the recombinant virus generated large hemoglobinized erythroid colonies in the absence of exogenous growth factors. Generation of such colonies usually requires the presence of erythropoietin (Epo) and interleukin-3 (IL-3). These growth-factor independent colonies were shown to be derived from early (BFU-E) and not late (CFU-E) erythroid progenitor cells, and the effect was not attributable to growth factors elicited by the virus-producing cell lines. In order to confirm that the recombinant virus was responsible for this transformation of BFU-E to growth factor independence, bone marrow cells from post 5-fluorouracil treated mice were infected and used to repopulate lethally-irradiated mice. Growth factor-independent BFU-E were obtained in up to 30% of day-13 spleen colonies and it was shown by DNA analysis that cells from these colonies contained integrated provirus. Our results indicate that v-erb-B transforms early erythroid progenitors to growth factor independent growth and subsequent differentiation to erythrocytes -a process that normally requires Epo plus either IL-3 or granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF).     

In vitro studies on the enhancement of Rauscher virus-induced erythroblastosis by complete Freund's adjuvant in BALB/c mice.

Inoculation of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) into BALB/c mice either before or after infection with Rauscher murine leukemia virus (MuLV-R) led to an acceleration of the disease as determined by spleen weight. Treatment with CFA also induced a higher number of spleen erythroblast foci and, in the bone marrow, erythropoietin-independent cells that produced erythroid colonies in vitro. CFA induced in the bone marrow not only an increase in myeloid progenitor cells that can produce colonies in agar, but an ever larger increase in the number of erythroid colony-forming cells. Virus-induced erythroblastosis was probably enhanced by CFA due to the production of many target cells. The more primitive burst-forming cell, which produced large colonies of erythroid cells after 10 days in culture, was also physiologically transformed in MuLV-R-infected mice; bursts could be formed by cells of such animals in the absence of erythropoietin.     

Bone marrow stromal deficiency in acute myeloid leukemia in mice

A study of bone marrow stroma in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in mice was carried out. AML was induced in C57B1 mice by i.v. inoculation of the C1498 cell line. There was a direct correlation between the marrow leukemic load and the degree of marrow stromal deficiency. This was expressed by reduced in vitro fibroblastoid colony formation. In co-cultures of normal mouse bone marrow and leukemic cells, and also in cultures of normal marrow with added conditioned medium (CM) of leukemic cells, marked inhibition of fibroblast-colony-forming units (CFU-F) from normal marrow was observed.

In additional experiments, leukemic mice were treated with two consecutive injections of cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C) (2 × 200mg/kg) and sacrificed 48 h later. Bone marrow samples of treated animals formed in vitro an increased number of fibroblastoid colonies despite relatively high levels of marrow leukemia. It is concluded that: (a) there is a direct correlation between the incidence of marrow leukemic cells and the degree of stromal deficiency; (b) leukemic cells produce in vitro—and probably in vivo CFU-F inhibitory factors and (c) administration of restricted doses of cytosine arabinoside to leukemic mice reduces the marrow leukemic cell content to some extent and increases the capacity of CFU-F to form fibroblastoid colonies in vitro.     

Expression of Friend leukemia virus and spleen focus-forming virus-specific sequences in erythroid bursts and granulocyte-macrophage colonies from spleen and marrow of mice infected with Friend leukemia virus

A large number of studies have been carried out to identify the Friend leukemia virus (FV) target cell(s). In FV-infected mice, the kinetics of "primitive" erythroid burst-forming units (P-BFU-E) is perturbed, and their proliferative rate is enhanced. These results indirectly suggest, but do not prove, that cycling P-BFU-E may serve as FV target. In vitro infection studies showed that normal erythroid colony forming units (CFU-E) and "mature" erythroid burst-forming units (M-BFU-E) are targets for FV, while the largely out-of-cycle normal P-BFU-E are not. In an attempt to shed light on these aspects, we have evaluated the expression of viral cytoplasmic RNA sequences in pools of colonies generated by P-BFU-E and granulocyte-macrophage colony forming units (CFU-GM) from spleen and marrow of polycythemic Friend virus (FVP)-infected mice, as measured by liquid hybridization with FVP- or spleen focus-forming polycythemic virus (SFFVp)-specific DNA probes. Moreover, similar assays were performed on RNAs derived from whole spleen or bone marrow from mice treated with FVP or the anemic strain of Friend virus (FVA). Control studies were performed on corresponding colonies and whole tissues from normal animals. FVP- and SFFVp-specific sequences are more abundant in RNA extracted from infected spleen as compared to marrow by a 10-fold factor. On the other hand, FVP and SFFVp-specific sequences are expressed at a comparable level in both P-BFU-E- and CFU-GM-derived colonies from spleen or marrow of FVP-treated mice. Since in vitro spread of FVP infection was excluded by control studies with addition in culture of antibody to the viral glycoprotein with a molecular weight of 70,000 (gp70) these results indicate that P-BFU-E and CFU-GM are infected in vivo by FVP.     

Effects of tilorone on hemopoietic stem cells and on the development of Friend leukemia

Summary Hematological effects of tilorone, an interferon inducer, on the hematopoietic cell system of normal CBA/Ca mice and on the development of Friend virus (FV-P)-induced polycythemia in DBA/2 mice were studied. In normal mice 80 mg/kg IP had a marked depressive effect on pluripotent (CFU-S), granuloid committed (CFU-C), and erythroid committed (CFU-E) stem cells with regeneration between days 5 and 12. In bone marrow smears only lymphopenia was detected. Treatment of mice before FV-P infection caused a slight retardation in the development of the splenomegaly and the transformation of bone marrow cells to Ep independence. Repeated treatment after FV-P infection also reduced the increase in spleen weight and the development of reticulocytosis, but the Ep independence of bone marrow and spleen cells was not influenced. In vitro exposure of normal cells and cells from FV-P-infected animals to the drug showed the same sensitivity of colony growth in normal as well as in Ep-independent CFU-E. The action of the drug on Friend leukemia is at least in part considered a toxic effect on the hematopoietic stem cell system.     

Demonstration of retroviral proteins associated with erythroid progenitors of cats with feline leukemia virus-induced erythroid aplasia

Feline erythroid aplasia is a fatal retrovirus-induced disease related to infection with feline leukemia virus of subgroup C. When bone marrow cells from cats inoculated with FeLV were incubated with polyvalent antibody to FeLV and cultured for erythroid colony formation, a complement-dependent inhibition of erythroid progenitors was demonstrated with virtually complete suppression of erythroid colony-forming units (CFU-E) and burst-forming units (BFU-E) evident from post-inoculation week 4 until termination in cats with progressive infection. When bone marrow cells from cats with regressive infection were treated similarly, CFU-E were inhibited on post-inoculation week 4 (98% inhibition) when the cats were viremic, and on week 6 (77% inhibition) when the leukocytes were negative for FeLV by immunofluorescence. These data suggest that the retroviral proteins are associated with erythroid progenitors or critical accessory cells and may play a role in selective suppression of erythropoiesis.     

Periodic oscillation of blood leukocytes,platelets, and hemoglobin in a patient with chronic eosinophilic leukemia

Chronic eosinophilic leukemia (CEL) is a rare myeloproliferative disease in which autonomous, clonal proliferation of eosinophilic precursors results in persistent increase of eosinophils in the blood and bone marrow. A case of CEL spontaneous oscillation of white blood cell (WBC) count is presented. The cycle of WBC variation comprised about 60 days. Similar cyclic variations were noted in his platelet count, hemoglobin level and bone marrow cellularity, as well as in the spleen size, which was directly correlated with the WBC count. The numbers of bone marrow erythroid colony-forming units (CFU-E), granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming units (CFU-GM) and the serum level of colony-stimulating factors (CSFs) were also regularly changed during the oscillation of WBC. Bone marrow hyperplasia was accompanied with the increase in peripheral WBC count, suggesting that the variation of cell production caused the cyclic oscillation.     

Kinetics of normal hemopoietic stem cells during leukemia growth before and after induction of a complete remission. Studies in a rat model for acute myelocytic leukemia (BNML)

During the invasion of leukemic cells of the rat acute myelocytic leukemia model BNML in the bone marrow, the number of normal bone marrow stem cells (CFU-S) decreased while simultaneously an increase of CFU-S in the leukemic spleen was observed. A small reduction in the tumor load by low dose cyclophosphamide treatment (10 mg/kg) caused a temporary CFU-S recovery in the bone marrow. After a therapeutic dose of cyclophosphamide (100 mg/kg), the CFU-S numbers in femur and spleen decreased to low levels but they rapidly increased immediately thereafter. In the spleen, however, the CFU-S increase halted when femoral CFU-S numbers reached normal levels. Splenectomy following cyclophosphamide treatment revealed that the splenic CFU-S population does not play a role in regeneration of hemopoiesis. During the subsequent leukemia relapse, CFU-S in the femur decreased again while spleen CFU-S tended to rise. It is concluded that the bone marrow CFU-S, which survive both the leukemia and the remission-induction treatment, and not the migrated, extramedullary localized stem cells are the major source for the restoration of normal hemopoiesis.     

Erythroid defects and increased retrovirally-induced tumor formation in Evi1 transgenic mice.

Aberrant expression of the Evi1 (ecotropic virus integration site 1) proto-oncogene has been associated with hematopoietic malignancies in both mice and man. To determine the effect of enforced expression of Evi1 in vivo, we developed a transgenic mouse model utilizing the murine Sca-1 (Ly-6E.1) promoter. Here, we describe the generation and analysis of three independent lines of Evi1 transgenic mice. Transgenic animals of two founder lines developed normally. These mice did not show any obvious hematological abnormalities but showed a significant reduction in the number of bone marrow colony-forming unit erythroid (CFU-E)-derived colonies. This implies a defect of normal erythroid hematopoiesis affecting relatively late erythroid progenitor cells. We also show that when newborn Evi1 transgenic mice of these two lines were infected with Cas-Br-M MuLV, tumor incidence was greatly enhanced in comparison with nontransgenic littermates, indicating an increased susceptibility for leukemia development. Interestingly, analysis of a third founder line revealed that all male progeny consistently displayed severely impaired erythropoiesis with major defects in the bone marrow, spleen and peripheral blood. Taken together, our results present the first evidence of Evi1 disturbing normal erythropoiesis in vivo and provides evidence for cooperative potential of Evi1 in tumor progression.     

Erythropoietin-independent erythroid colony formation in vitro by hemopoietic cells of mice infected with friend virus.

We have investigated the production of erythroid colonies in plasma culture by bone-marrow and spleen cells taken form C3Hf/Bi mice previously infected with a polycythemic strain of Friend virus (FV). Inclusion of erythropoietin (Epo) in the medium was found unnecessary for erythroid colony formation in vitro by these cells, although it was essential for the production of erythroid colonies by hemopoietic cells from normal animals. Development of erythroid colonies also proceeded umimpeded when cells from FV-infected animals were cultivated in medium pretreated with rabbit anti-serum that was shown to inactivate Epo. Thus, the hemopoietic tissues of FV-infected mice contained erythroid colony-forming units (CFU-Es) which appeared to be Epo-independent. When spleen cells from FV-infected mice were exposed to antiserum directed against syngeneic FV-infected spleen cells and complement, and then cultured with or without Epo, the number of erythroid colonies that developed was drastically reduced, indicating that the CFU-Es in these animals carried FV-induced antigen(s), and must themselves have been infected with virus. Electron microscopy of erythroid colonies produced by cells from FV-infected mice revealed the presence of budding and abundant free type-C virus particles. The efficiency of erythroid colony formation in vitro either with or without Epo by hemopoietic cells from FV-infected mice was substantially increased over that of cells from normal mice. The increase in the number of CFU-Es in these animals was due mainly to an increase in the number of Epo-independent CFU-Es. Epo-independent CFU-Es were first detected in bone marrow and spleen as early as 3 days after FV infection; thereafter their numbers progressively increased for at least 9 days. Hypertransfusion with red blood cells prior to FV infection reduced, while bleeding greatly increased, the efficiency of erythoid colony formation without Epo by cells from the spleens of the infected mice. The phenomenon of erythroid colony formation in plasma cultures lacking Epo provides a sensitive and reliable means of detecting Epo-independent CFU-Es, which appear to play a fundamental part in pathogenesis of the disease resulting from infection with the polycythemic strain of FV.     

Cytogenetic analysis of human acute and chronic myeloid leukemic cells cloned in agar culture

Karyotypic analysis was performed on agar cultures of blood or bone marrow from 12 patients with acute or chronic myeloid or myelomonocytic leukemia in whom karyotypic markers were present. The granulocytic colonies and clusters which developed on culture were shown to be derived from representative cells of the leukemic population. In two patients with acute leukemia in remission, normal colonies with a normal karyotype were grown from marrow cells but in two patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in remission the Ph¹ abnormality persisted in colony cells. The agar culture technique appears to be ideal for following the emergence and disappearance of leukemic and normal granulopoietic populations in patients with these types of leukemia.     

Differential sensitivity of AKR murine leukemia and normal bone marrow cells to hyperthermia

To determine if there is a differential effect of hyperthermia on AKR murine leukemia and AKR normal bone marrow cells incubated in vitro, the fractional survival of leukemic and of normal cells with proliferative potential as a function of heating exposure was estimated by evaluating spleen colony formation. Normal bone marrow colony-forming units were assayed in lethally irradiated (750 centigrays) mice; leukemic colony-forming units were assayed in nonirradiated mice. Electron micrographic studies of leukemic cells treated with 41.8 degrees hyperthermia found that structural damage to the cell, i.e., changes in the Golgi apparatus, was associated with the lack of ability to form colonies. AKR leukemia cells were more sensitive than normal cells to hyperthermic killing at 41.8 degrees and at 42.5 degrees. This differential was found whether cells of each type were heated separately or when mixed together. This model system demonstrates an inherently greater sensitivity of neoplastic cells, as compared to normal syngeneic stem cells, to thermal killing. This finding may have relevance to autologous bone marrow transplantation in humans.     

Leukemic stromal hematopoietic microenvironment negatively regulates the normal hematopoiesis in mouse model of leukemia

Background and Objective: Leukemic microenvironment has a major role in the progression of leukemia. Leukemic cells can induce reversible changes in microenvironmental components, especially the stromal function which results in improved growth conditions for maintaining the malignant leukemic cells. This study aimed to investigate the survival advantage of leukemic cells over normal hematopoietic cells in stromal microenvironment in long term. Methods: The mice were injected intraperitoneally with N-N’ eth...     

Haemopoietic colony formation (BFU-E, GM-CFC) during the development of pure red cell hypoplasia induced in the cat by feline leukaemia virus

The GM-CFC assay for granulocyte-macrophage progenitors and the BFU-E and CFU-E assay for early and late erythroid progenitors from cat bone marrow were characterized. GM-CFC gave 59 +/- 4 to 118 +/- 6 colonies per 10(5) bone marrow cells using colony stimulating factors (CSF) from cat, mouse or human sources. The CFU-E and BFU-E assays gave 114 +/- 7 and 58 +/- 7 colonies respectively with optimum doses of erythropoietin. Irradiated cat bone marrow cells were good sources of CSF and of burst promoting activity for these assays. Kittens infected with feline leukaemia virus, subgroup C (FeLV-C), which induces pure red cell hypoplasia, showed the incidence of BFU-E decreased to 25-35% of controls as early as one week postinfection, and even lower values at later times. In contrast, the incidence of GM-CFC remained normal for several weeks. No evidence of inhibitory cells or of lack of stimulatory cells in the infected marrows was seen when they were cultured together with normal marrow in the BFU-E assay. Conversely, normal marrow cells were not able to restore BFU-E growth from infected marrow. This suggests a direct action of FeLV-C on early erythroid precursors. Infection with FeLV, subgroup A, which induces only a mild transitory anaemia, produces only a moderate decrease in the incidence of BFU-E.     

Transfection of mouse bone marrow cells with Rauscher virus proviral DNA

Mouse bone marrow cells were transfected with DNA isolated from Rauscher virus-induced leukemic spleen cells. Successful transfection was manifested by virus production and transformation.Virus production by the transfected bone marrow cells was shown by the XC test. Injection of transfected cells into syngeneic hosts led to the development of erythrobastosis, probably due to the spread of virus reproduced by infectious proviral DNA.The transforming potential of the infectious viral DNA was demonstrated by the formation of erythroid colonies in vitro without the addition of erythropoietin to the culture medium.