Separation of leukemic cells into proliferative and quiescent subpopulations by centrifugal elutriation.

Centrifugal elutriation was used to separate human acute leukemia cells into proliferative and quiescent subpopulations. Ten bone marrow specimens and 5 peripheral blood specimens were subjected to centrifugal elutriations. From each patient, leukemic cell subpopulations were obtained for which the [3H]thymidine labeling index differed by 10- to 30-fold. In 6 of the marrow specimens and in 2 of the peripheral blood specimens, cell subpopulations were obtained for which the labeling index exceeded 20%. In 5 marrow specimens, subpopulations were obtained for which the labeling index exceeded 40%. Preliminary studies of the uptake of 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine and 5-azacytidine failed to show any correlation between drug uptake and the proliferative characteristics of the leukemic subpopulations.