Expression of B-cell-specific markers in different Burkitt lymphoma subgroups.

Forty-three Burkitt lymphoma (BL) lines were examined for the expression of 5 monoclonal antibody (MAb)-identified B-cell-specific markers and immunoglobulin production. All (13) EBV-negative BL lines were CALLA+ LB-1-, whereas 30 EBV-carrying lines showed a more heterogeneous pattern. In the EBV-negative lines, the follicle mantle zone markers BA-1 and 35.1C5 were expressed concordantly, at a different level in each line. This coordination was disrupted in EBV-carrying lines. In the EBV-negative lines, there was also an inverted correlation between the expression of 35.1C5 and the germinal center marker BLA, suggesting that some etiologically important event, perhaps the translocation, had fixed the cells at different stages of their transition from one zone to the other. This inverted relationship was also disrupted in the EBV-carrying lines, suggesting that EBV can interfere with the maturation program of the BL cell. This conclusion was also supported by a comparison between 5 EBV-negative BL lines and their EBV-converted sublines. All converted lines have undergone marker changes, but the degree and nature of these changes was different for each EBV-BL line. Both the coordinated expression of BA-1 and 35.1C5 and the inverted relationship between CALLA and LB-1 were disrupted in several other convertants. We have reexamined our previous finding (Ehlin-Henriksson and Klein, 1984) that the majority of the variant translocation-carrying BL lines were CALLA- LB-1+, in contrast to the majority of the typical translocation carriers that were mostly CALLA+ LB-1-. All II EBV-negative lines were CALLA+ LB-1-, irrespective of the type of translocation. Among the EBV-carrying lines, 4 of 17 typical (8;14) translocation carriers were CALLA- LB-1+, whereas 7 of the 12 variant translocation-carrying lines were CALLA- LB-1+. The remaining two expressed both antigens to some extent. The difference is statistically significant at the 0.03 level.