title: Individual germinal centres of myasthenia gravis human thymuses contain polyclonal activated B cells that express all the Vh and Vk families.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Immunologie INSERM, CNRS de Marseille-Luminy, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Guigou
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Emilie
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berrih-Aknin
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fumoux
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fougereau
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schiff
mesh_terms: 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*
chemical_list: D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region; D007145:Immunoglobulin kappa-Chains