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CD99 (MIC2) expression in paediatric B‐lineage leukaemia/lymphoma reflects maturation‐associated patterns of normal B‐lymphopoiesis
Author(s) -
Dworzak Michael N.,
Fritsch Gerhard,
Fleischer Christine,
Printz Dieter,
Fröschl Gertraud,
Buchinger Petra,
Mann Georg,
Gadner Helmut
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
british journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.907
H-Index - 186
eISSN - 1365-2141
pISSN - 0007-1048
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2141.1999.01426.x
Subject(s) - cd99 , lymphoma , b cell , flow cytometry , biology , haematopoiesis , lymphopoiesis , bone marrow , cd34 , immunophenotyping , cancer research , immunology , microbiology and biotechnology , stem cell , antibody
We have recently shown that CD99 (MIC2) is differentially expressed during normal early B‐cell development in the bone marrow (BM). Since immature B‐cell precursors (BCP) are assumed to correspond to some extent to acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) cells with respect to patterns of phenotypic differentiation, we wondered whether the particular maturation‐associated expression patterns of CD99 in the normal BCP stages were conserved also in malignant cells. Therefore we compared malignant and physiological B cells from paediatric ALL/NHL and normal BM samples with respect to CD99 expression using selective gating and semi‐quantitative flow cytometry. Common‐ALLs ( n = 45) were similar to their corresponding, very immature BCPs (stage 1) in expressing very high levels of CD99. Most pre‐B ALLs ( n = 16) were also CD99 hi and thus differed from the patterns found in normal cytoplasmic μ‐chain + (cμ + ) pre‐B cells (stage 2, CD99 lo ). In particular, we found that those pre‐B‐ALL cases which were CD34 + also showed higher CD99 expression than the CD34 − cases. This prompted us to investigate the levels of CD99 in those rare normal BCPs which also coexpress CD34 and cμ; these cells, which are transitory from stage 1 to stage 2, were found also CD99 hi , thus precisely reflecting the patterns of CD34 + pre‐B ALLs. The blasts of Burkitt‐type B‐cell ALL/NHL samples ( n = 13) expressed considerably less CD99, similarly to the more differentiated BCP stages 2 (cμ + ) and 3 (surface μ‐chain + ). In summary, we found that paediatric B‐lineage malignancies display remarkable synchrony regarding the levels of CD99 expression compared to their putative normal counterparts.