Individual germinal centres of myasthenia gravis human thymuses contain polyclonal activated B cells that express all the Vh and Vk families.
Using in situ hybridization, we analysed the immunoglobulin repertoire expressed by the B cells present in myasthenia gravis thymuses from four patients. B cells, mostly in activated state, were clustered in germinal centres, in which multiple isotypes were identified. A majority of cells expressed IgG as compared with IgM, with a roughly similar contribution of kappa and lambda chains. Hybridization with the six VH and the 4 VK human family probes was observed in serial sections, providing additional evidence that individual germinal centres were polyclonal. The thymic B cell repertoire closely reflected the VH and the VK family usage of normal peripheral blood lymphocytes with the preferential utilization of VH3, VK1 and VK3.
Guigou
V
V
Centre d'Immunologie INSERM, CNRS de Marseille-Luminy, Marseille, France.
Emilie
D
D
Berrih-Aknin
S
S
Fumoux
F
F
Fougereau
M
M
Schiff
C
C
D000328:Adult; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D005803:Genes, Immunoglobulin; D006801:Humans; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000032:analysis*; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region / Q000032:analysis*; D007145:Immunoglobulin kappa-Chains / Q000032:analysis*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000276:immunology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000276:immunology*
D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region; D007145:Immunoglobulin kappa-Chains