Studies of cellular proliferation in human leukemia VII. Cytokinetic behavior of neoplastic cells in a patient with reticulum cell sarcoma in a leukemic phase

• Published in: Cancer 1971-10, Vol.28 (4), p.862-885
• Main Authors: Ohara, Kanji, Fried, Jerrold, Bowling, Monroe D., Bittar, Edward S., Clarkson, Bayard D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Autoradiography; Biopsy; Bone Marrow - pathology; Bone Marrow - physiopathology; Bone Marrow Cells; Carbon Isotopes; Cell Differentiation; Culture Techniques; Cytarabine - therapeutic use; DNA, Neoplasm - biosynthesis; Female; Histocytochemistry; Humans; Leukemia - pathology; Leukemia - physiopathology; Leukocytes; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin - drug therapy; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin - pathology; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin - physiopathology; Mitosis; Phagocytosis; Thymidine - metabolism; Tritium
• ISSN: 0008-543X; 1097-0142
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(1971)28:4<862::AID-CNCR2820280410>3.0.CO;2-X

Cytokinetic studies were conducted in a 22‐year‐old woman with rapidly progressive disseminated reticulum cell sarcoma (RCS). Some reticulum sarcoma (RS) cells matured into monocytoid forms which could no longer divide; the most mature forms showed cytochemical and kinetic differences from normal granulocytes and monocytes and some were long‐lived. The nuclear sizes of the most primitive RS cells in the marrow correlated closely with their ages in the cell cycle. The mean generation time of the labeled primitive RS cells after continuous infusion of 3H‐thymidine was about 6 days, but that of the whole population was longer. The duration of S was about 1 day, G2 about 5 hours, M about 2 hours, and the mean duration of G1 in the labeled cells was about 5 days with a minimum of about 2 days. The maximum duration of G1 is uncertain but was probably at least 20 days; most cells with long G1 periods were small cells. The proliferative behavior of the RS cells in a femoral lymph node appeared similar to that of the marrow cells. A 3‐day infusion of arabinosylcytosine killed roughly half the RS cells, but, within 9 days after stopping the drug, the surviving cells were proliferating at about the same rate as the original whole population. No significant synchronization occurred, and there was at most only a slight effect of therapy in recruiting resting cells to begin dividing.