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Derivation of Human T-Cell Leukemias¹

Division of Tumor Immunology, Sidney Farber Cancer Institute—Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115

Cell surface antigenic changes occur during the stages of T-cell ontogeny in several animal model systems. In the present study, multiple monoclonal antibodies were developed to human thymocyte and T-cell surface differentiation antigens as a means of probing T-cell ontogeny in humans. It was shown that three distinct stages of human intrathymic differentiation exist and that the mature inducer (T4⁺) and suppressor (T5⁺/TH₂⁺) T-cell subsets arise at specific points during these maturation events. Moreover, T-cell leukemias can now be related to the three stages of the thymic compartment or, alternatively, the more differentiated peripheral T-cell compartment.

¹ Presented at the Conference on Cell Markers in Acute Leukemia, March 4 and 5, 1980, Bethesda, Md. This work was supported in part by NIH Grants AI 12069, CA 19589, and CA 06516.

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Division of Tumor Immunology, Sidney Farber Cancer Institute, 44 Binney Street, Boston, Mass. 02115.