Abstract
The first member of the B-cell series is a large lymphoid cell (pre-B) with cytoplasmic but undetectable surface(s) IgM. Pre-B and sIg+ cells were examined in marrow and blood from 6 normals and 18 patients with Ig deficiencies or blood disorders. Of normal nucleated marrow cells, 0.6±0.5% were pre-B and 2.1±1.4% were sIgM+ B cells. 9 boys with infantile agammaglobulinemia were deficient in sIgM+ cells in blood and marrow but had normal proportions of marrow pre-B cells (0.6±0.5%). Marrow-cell cultures from 2 of these boys failed to generate B cells with or without addition of theophylline or dibutyryl cAMP. Both pre-B and B cells were absent in marrow from 2 men with thymoma and hypogammaglobulinemia; both also lacked eosinophils. A normal frequency of pre-B cells was found in 5 hypogammaglobulinemic patients with normal circulating B cells. Frequency of pre-B cells was increased (4.0 and 4.6%) in 2 boys' marrow after histocompatible marrow transplantation for aplastic anemia or leukemia. Pre-B cells were not found in blood(7), spleen(2), or lymph nodes(2). Our results (i) strengthen the idea that B cells are derived from sIg- pre-B cells resident in bone marrow, (ii) indicate that pre-B to B-cell conversion is consistently defective in infantile agammaglobulinemia, (iii) provide more evidence for defective stem cell differentiation in immunodeficiency associated with thymoma, and (iv) suggest that regulation of B-cell generation in bone marrow can be experimentally modulated in man.
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Pearl, E., Vogler, L., Crist, W. et al. NORMAL AND ABERRANT B-CELL DIFFERENTIATION IN BONE MARROW. Pediatr Res 11, 491 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197704000-00729
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197704000-00729
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