Surface marker expression of human B-cell lymphomas.

We have generated a battery of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) that distinguish different antigen molecules present in human B cells. Two antigen systems, termed L26 and L27, respectively, were expressed in most surface immunoglobulin-positive B cells and thus showed pan-B cell specificity. Two other antigens (L22 and L30) appeared to be expressed mainly on small resting B cells but not on large activated B cells. In contrast with L22 and L30, L29 and L4, the latter of which corresponds to OKT10, were not or little expressed on resting B cells, but were found on these B cells after activation either in-vivo or in-vitro with staphylococcal protein-A (SAC) plus interleukin-2 (IL-2) or with pokeweed mitogen (PWM). We also produced MAb (L10) that detected IL-2 receptors (IL-2R) consistently expressed on in-vitro activated B cells as described above. In contrast with L4, L10 and L29, L30 was lost from in-vitro-activated B cells, following the appearance of either L10 or L29 on these in-vitro-activated B cells. Then, we analyzed antigen profiles of B cell tumors using these MAbs as described above. Common acute lymphatic leukemia (CALL) expressed L4 and L30. B cell type chronic leukemia (B-CLL) and hairy cell leukemia (HCL) possessed most of the B cell antigens as described herein, and furthermore, HCL expressed IL-2R as detected by L10 MAb. In the case of B cell lymphomas, they were phenotypically divided into two groups, corresponding to either early or late activated B cells.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)