Establishment and Characterization of a Feline Large Granular Lymphoma Cell Line Expressing Interleukin 2 Receptor α-Chain

Abstract

A feline large granular lymphocyte (LGL) cell line was established from a cat with an alimentary-form lymphoma. This cell line, designated as FGL, had many large azurophilic granules in the cytoplasm, which were typical to LGL cells. Proviral genome of feline leukemia virus was detected in the chromosomal DNA of FGL cells, and reverse transcriptase activity was also demonstrated in the culture supernatant. Furthermore, we found expression of interleukin 2 (IL-2) receptor α-chain on the cell surface of FGL and its natural killer activity against human erythroblastic leukemia cell line, K562.