Regulation of the Proliferation of the Established Human Monoblast Cell Line, U937, at the Single Cell Level1

U937 cells, an established monoblast or early monocyte cell line, were assessed as a model in vitro for the regulation of cell growth at the single cell level. Colony formation by 500 U937 cells, preinduced to a state of responsiveness to lactoferrin (LF) by incubation with human y Interferon was suppressed by LF. LF-suppressed colony formation was restored by partially purified growth activity derived from U937 cells. The release of growth factor(s) into conditioned medium required concentrations of >51III U937 cells/ml and this release was dependent on the length of time that the cells conditioned the culture medium. This release was suppressed by LF. U937 cells were induced to a state of responsiveness to LF by incubation with human 7 Interferon, washed, and plated as a single cell per well. Individual cells formed colonies with a cloning efficiency of -50% which equalled the cloning efficiency detected when 500 U937 cells/ml were plated, suggesting that U937 colony forming cells might contain endogenous growth activity. Detection of these endogenous growth activities required the use of LF. The cloning efficiency of individually isolated U937 cells was suppressed by -50% with LF, similar to the LF suppression of colony formation when 500 cells/ml were plated. That the LF-suppressed U937 colony forming cells required growth activity was suggested as the cloning efficiency of LF-suppressed individually isolated U937 colony forming cells was restored by partially purified U937 growth activity. Partially purified U937 growth activity did not stimulate, enhance, or inhibit colony formation by normal human bone marrow granulocyte-macrophage progenitors. U937 cells can thus serve as a useful model for the study of growth regulation at the level of a single cell.