Surface glycoprotein patterns of normal and malignant human lymphoid cells. I. T cells T blasts and leukemic T cell lines.

Exposed surface glycoproteins of resting and in vitro activated human T lymphocytes and leukemic T-cell lines were labelled by the galactose oxidase-tritiated sodium borohydride method. The labelled glycoproteins were separated by polyacrylamide slab gel electrophoresis and visualized by autoradiography. The basic glycoprotein patterns of the T lymphocytes and T blasts were found also in the leukemic T cells. The glycoprotein pattern of the T-cell lines was easily distinguishable from that of other hematopoietic cell lines. The findings suggest that: (1) surface glycoprotein analysis might be useful for the identification of cell lines and for the differential diagnosis of hematopoietic malignancies; and (2) cells of cultured T lines may be used for the identification and preparation of T lymphoid differentiation antigens and perhaps also tumor-associated surface molecules.