Differentiation of leukemic cell lines: a review focusing on murine erythroleukemia and human HL-60 cells

Abstract

Several acute leukemia cell lines respond to chemical or pharmacologic inducing agents by undergoing variable degrees of differentiation. This review focuses on the manner in which murine erythroleukemia (MEL) and HL-60 cells can be induced to differentiate into virtually fully mature erythroid cells and mature granulocytes or macrophages respectively. In this process the cells undergo irreversible "commitment" to terminal differentiation which is followed by loss of proliferative capacity and alterations in the expression of genes whose products are related to specific aspects of cell maturation in the corresponding cell pathways.