Continuous cell culture from a patient with chronic myelogenous leukemia. i. propagation and presence of philadelphia chromosome

A continuous culture, designated the M-2 line, was established from white cells from the peripheral blood of a patient with chronic myelogenous leukemia. The cells grew singly and in aggregates unattached to the surfaces of the culture vessel. During logarithmic growth, the cell doubling time was about 24 hours. The maximal viable cell concentration observed was about 1 × 10⁶ cells per ml. Cells could be grouped into 3 categories according to size. About 23% of the cells contained the Philadelphia chromosome without other chromosome abnormalities. Some of the remaining cells contained a small metacentric chromosome and others had 44–48 chromosomes and an abnormal karyotype. Polyploidy and multiple chromosomal aberrations were in 15–20% of the cells.