Expression of a B-lymphocyte antigen in chronic lymphocytic and other leukemias

• Published in: Clinical immunology and immunopathology Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 64 - 72
• Main Authors: Sullivan, A.K., Jerry, L.M., Rowden, G., Shea, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.07.1977
• Subjects: Acute Disease; Antigens; B-Lymphocytes - immunology; Cell Membrane - immunology; Erythrocytes - immunology; Fluorescent Antibody Technique; Humans; Leukemia - immunology; Leukemia, Lymphoid - immunology
• ISSN: 0090-1229; 1090-2341
• DOI: 10.1016/0090-1229(77)90092-7

A major plasma membrane glycoprotein of molecular weight 32,000–36,000 was isolated from cultured human B lymphoblasts. Its molecular, antigenic, and functional properties established a relationship to the human Ia equivalent. Monospecific antisera to this protein reacted with lymphocytes from 11 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) of the B-cell type as expected. However, in serial studies of three additional CLL patients, the circulating levels of antigen-bearing cells fluctuated markedly with time. Furthermore, expression of the antigen was dissociated from that of surface immunoglobulin, especially during periods of rapid change in leukocyte count. Blast cells from patients with acute myeloblastic, acute myelomonocytic, and acute lymphoblastic (E rosette-negative) leukemias expressed it as well. Leukemic cells containing the Philadelphia chromosome from a patient with chronic granulocytic leukemia in a blastic phase also carried the antigen. Although Ia-like antigens in man are characteristically expressed on B lymphocytes, they are not specific for them, but may serve a more general function as differentiation antigens on some hematopoietic cell precursors.