Hairy cell leukemia: establishment of a cell line and its characteristics.

A hairy cell leukemia (HCL) line, ZK-H, was established from peripheral blood of a 69-year-old male patient. The ZK-H cells and the patient's original hairy cells shared the same surface properties; both possessed membrane-bound IgG with kappa light chains and villous surface structures. The ZK-H line carried Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-determined nuclear antigen, but the patient's fresh leukemic cells lacked this antigen. Morphologically, the ZK-H cells appeared lymphoblastoid and more primitive than the preculture cells. The ZK-H line had a hyperdiploid chromosome constitution of 47 and trisomy no. 2. The presence of membrane-bound immunoglobulin and of B-cell tropic EBV in this cell line provides further evidence for the B-cell nature of HCL in this patient.