Differential agglutination by soybean agglutinin of human leukemia and neuroblastoma cell lines: potential application to autologous bone marrow transplantation.

Abstract

Normal human bone marrow cells were mixed with radiolabeled tumor cells from leukemia and neuroblastoma cell lines, and the cell mixtures were separated by differential agglutination with soybean agglutinin. The cell fraction unagglutinated by soybean agglutinin, which is capable of reconstituting the hematopoietic system of lethally-irradiated recipients, can be purged of tumor cells with varying efficiency; this is dependent on the tumor cell expression of soybean agglutinin receptors as detected by flow cytofluorimetry with fluoresceinated soybean agglutinin. [Human bone marrow can be cryopreserved and reinfused after aggressive marrow-lethal chemoradiotherapy, allowing for successful autologous hematopoietic recovery.].