OBJECTIVETo establish a myelodysplastic syndrome transformed to leukemia cell line stably expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP), and to evaluate its biological characteristics and applications.

METHODSSKM-1 cells were transfected by lentiviral particles with vector of GFP. The GFP positive single cell clone was isolated by limiting dilution and continued being cultured. The cells were injected into mice subcutaneously and were screened in vivo. Then SKM-1/GFP cells were obtained after tumour plaque was separated and cultivated. The cell morphology was observed by fluorescence microscopy. The GFP expression was further detected by flow cytometry. The cell proliferation was analysed by CCK-8 assay. SKM-1/GFP cells were inoculated to subcutaneous tissue of the immunodeficiency mice. The growth and invasion of the tumour were observed after tumour formation.

RESULTSNo differences in cell morphology and growth characteristics were observed between SKM-1 cells and SKM-1/GFP cells. The rate of GFP expression was 100%. No differences in cell proliferation were observed between SKM-1 cells and SKM-1/GFP cells. The tumour mass was observed after 14 days of subcutaneous vaccination in NOD/SCID mice. Spontaneous fluorescence from plaque was observed by living fluorescence microscopy at 30th day after vaccination. Homogenous GFP positive cells were observed by fluorescence microscopy in the frozen section of tumour mass. The invasion of SKM-1/GFP cells was also detected in heart, liver, stomach and kidney of mice.

CONCLUSIONA myelody-splastic syndrome transformed to leukemia cell line stably expressing green fluorescent protein has been established successfully, which can track tumor cell sensitively and can be applied to the research of minimal residual leukemia. The establishment of SKM-1/GFP cells may serve as a powerful means for studing myelodysplastic syndrome transformation.