CD4 Expression by erythroid precursor cells in human bone marrow
RP Cleveland and YC Liu
Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University School of
Medicine, Cleveland, OH 44109 USA.
Flow cytometry was used to assess CD4 expression in 62 consecutive bone
marrow specimens from patients with a variety of clinical conditions. Using
a lysed-whole-blood technique for labeling with monoclonal antibodies, two
populations of CD4+ cells were identified within the lymphocyte/blast-cell
fraction in 58 (94%) of these specimens. These consisted of (1) a
population of T helper cells with high density expression of CD4 and (2) a
second population of cells with low-density expression of CD4, which ranged
from 1% to 36% of the gated cells. This latter population was present
regardless of age, sex, or clinical condition including 21 of 21 specimens
(100%) categorized as unremarkable bone marrows both morphologically and by
flow cytometry and in four of four patients (100%) with human
immunodeficiency virus- type 1 (HIV-1) infection. Coexpression of the
erythroid lineage marker, glycophorin A, with the majority of cells in this
second population was demonstrated in all 11 randomly selected samples
using two-color flow cytometric analysis. These cells also expressed low
levels of the myeloid markers, CD13 and CD33, but CD34 expression could not
be demonstrated. These results provide evidence for expression of CD4 on
cells of erythroid lineage in human marrow, and offer a potential mechanism
for direct infection of erythroid precursor cells and deranged
erythropoiesis in patients with HIV-1 infection.
Volume 87,
Issue 6,
pp. 2275-2282,
03/15/1996
Copyright © 1996 by The American Society of Hematology
