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The Distribution of Lymphocytes with T- and B-Cell Surface Markers in Human Bone Marrow¹

From the Laboratories of Virology and Immunology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38101

Abstract

This study demonstrates that lymphocyte subpopulations are distributed differently in peripheral blood and bone narrow. The proportion of T (thymus-dependent) and B (bone marrow-derived) lymphocytes was simultaneously assayed in the peripheral blood and bone marrow of children with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) in continuous remission for 3 to 8 years who had received no therapy for 1 month to 5 years. T cells were identified by spontaneous rosette formation with sheep erythrocytes (RFL) and B cells by immunofluorescence of surface immunoglobulins. Most bone marrow lymphocytes carried neither B- nor T-cell surface markers. These markers were not detected in 78% of bone marrow lymphocytes and in 39% of peripheral blood lymphocytes. In a majority of these children the proportions of T and B lymphocytes were different in blood and bone marrow. Percentages of RFL and of lymphocytes bearing IgG were greater in blood than in bone marrow in 95% of the patients assayed. In contrast, the proportion of IgM-bearing lymphocytes in the bone marrow of 65% of the children was equal to or greater than in their peripheral blood. In the bone marrow the average ratio of lymphocytes bearing IgG to lymphocytes bearing IgM was 1:5 while it was 1:1 in the peripheral blood. Similar results were obtained when the proportion of T and B lymphocytes were analyzed in a group of nine children in remission who had received no therapy for more than 1 year and who were normal as assayed by several clinical, hematologic and immunologic criteria. Thus, we conclude that a low proportion of T cells and IgG-bearing lymphocytes and a predominance of B lymphocytes with IgM receptors represent the physiologic distribution of lymphocytes in human bone marrow.

Footnotes

¹ This investigation was supported by Research Grant CA-12787, Clinical Center Grant CA-08480 from the National Institutes of Health, The American Cancer Society Grants C-171 and IN-99 and by ALSAC.