Identification of B cells in multilineage hematopoietic colonies derived from cells of patients with lymphocytic lymphoma.

Pluripotent stem cells from human bone marrow can be identified in culture by their ability to form multilineage hematopoietic colonies containing different myeloid lineages and T cells of different phenotypes. The observation of a common progenitor of myeloid and lymphoid cells in normal and disturbed hematopoiesis prompted the question of whether B cells are part of the differentiation program of stem cells. The availability of hybridomas of azaguanine-resistant T-cell lines secreting monoclonal growth factors for B cells and clinical conditions that are considered to originate from malignant B cells might facilitate this investigation. We were able to identify surface immunoglobulin and B-cell-associated antigen-positive cells within such colonies, indicating that B cells are generated from a myelolymphopoietic stem cell. This report describes the presence of B cells in these colonies derived from bone marrow cells of patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.