Pre-B-cells in normal human bone marrow and in bone marrow from patients
with leukemia in remission: persistent quantitative differences and
possible expression of cell surface IgM in vitro
ER Pearl
Pre-B-cells are bone marrow lymphoid cells that lack surface immunoglobulin
(sIg-) but contain intracytoplasmic (c) IgM heavy chains and are probably
the immediate precursors of immature sIgM+ B lymphocytes. To better
understand early stages of B-cell development, immunofluorescence
techniques were employed to identify pre-B-cells and B lymphocytes and to
examine the expression of sIgM in vitro by human marrow that had been
previously depleted of B cells by immunoadsorption. Marrow was derived from
patients with acute leukemia in long-term remission off therapy and from a
variety of controls. The pre-B-cell compartment was greatly expanded in the
marrow of leukemia remission patients for more than 2 yr following
cessation of therapy. A similar finding was noted in two patients with
lymphoma who had also completed chemotherapy, but not in three with solid
tumors prior to therapy. sIgM+ B cells appeared in cultures of sIg- marrow
cells from leukemia patients, but not the controls, and only after exposure
to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). At least some of the sIgM+ lymphocytes also
expressed cIgM and were probably derived from pre-B-cells. The results of
this study (A) confirm that patients who have completed treatment for acute
leukemia have a prolonged elevation of pre-B-cell proportions, (B)
demonstrate that similar abnormalities may exist in patients with certain
solid tumors following chemotherapy, and (C) suggest that a fraction of
sIg- human marrow cells, perhaps pre-B- cells, bear a receptor for EBV and
can be induced to express to sIgM in vitro.
Volume 61,
Issue 3,
pp. 464-468,
03/01/1983
Copyright © 1983 by The American Society of Hematology
