Growth pattern and function of bone marrow fibroblasts from normal and acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients

Abstract

Studies were conducted on cultures of adherent cells derived from bone marrow of normal (N-BMF) and ALL (ALL-BMF) children. Quiescent cultures of both types of cells are differentially stimulated to synthesize DNA by serum. A 31-fold increase was observed in N-BMF, while in ALL-BMF, serum stimulates DNA synthesis only up to 7 times. Hydrocortisone (10-8 M) inhibited up to 50% the effect of serum on DNA synthesis in N-BMF and had no effect in ALL-BMF. Glucocorticoid receptors, already described in N-BMF, are either absent or present in low amounts in ALL-BMF. These results indicate that stromal cells from normal and ALL bone marrow differ both in growth pattern and function.