Spurious E rosette formation in B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia due to
monoclonal anti-sheep RBC antibody
LE Mills, JF O'Donnell, PM Guyre, PJ LeMarbre, JD Miller and GM Bernier
The apparent simultaneous presence of surface markers characteristic of
both B and T cells is a phenomenon being described with increasing
frequency in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). We describe
a patient with CLL whose B lymphocytes possessed surface immunoglobulin
reactive with neuraminidase-treated sheep erythrocytes (SRBCs) and produced
E rosette formation. Cytofluorography using monoclonal antibodies
demonstrated the B cell nature of these cells and the absence of the SRBC
receptor. Further documentation that the binding of SRBCs was mediated
through immunologic reaction included E rosette formation inhibition by
monospecific antisera and hemagglutination of SRBCs by a paraprotein
isolated from the patient's serum. Fusion of the CLL cells with a human
hypoxanthine-aminopterin- thymidine-sensitive plasma cell line resulted in
the production of human hybridomas that secreted the SRBC-reactive IgM
antibody. An analysis of clinical histories of CLL patients whose cells
exhibited this phenomenon from both immunologic and clinical perspectives
is presented.
Volume 65,
Issue 2,
pp. 270-274,
02/01/1985
Copyright © 1985 by The American Society of Hematology
