Purging Leukemic Cells From Simulated Human Remission Marrow With Alkyl-Lysophospholipid

Alkyl-lysophospholipids (ALP) are analogues of 2-lysophos-phatidylcholine that have been reported to have selective antitumor activity. These compounds could potentially be useful in purging bone marrow of leukemic cells in autolo-gous marrow transplantation in acute leukemia. To deter-mine the efficacy of pharmacological purging by ALP, we have designed a human assay system to mimic the condi-tions expected in the clinical setting of autotransplantation using remission marrow. A simulated remission marrow (SRM) was prepared by mixing normal marrow cells and Hi60 cells in a ratio of 1,000:1. The effect of cryopreserva-tion on ALP-treated normal, HL6O, and SRM cells was examined. In separate experiments, ALP significantly reduced the number of clonogenic Hi60 cells with no effect A LLOGEN EIC BONE MARROW transplantatio