title: Clonally restricted B cells in peripheral blood of multiple sclerosis patients: kappa/lambda staining patterns.
abstract: The presence of clonally restricted B lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) was investigated using a cytofluorometric technique able to detect lymphocytes having homogeneous amounts of surface immunoglobulin of one light chain class. Thirty-five of 76 analyses (46%) performed on 63 MS patients were positive for increased numbers of clonally restricted B cells as compared with only 7 of 27 (26%) in patients with other neurological diseases (p less than 0.05) and 9 of 36 (25%) in control subjects (p less than 0.05). This B cell population expressed predominantly kappa light chain determinants in 16 of 18 MS patients (89%) but in only 6 of 11 (55%) controls (p less than 0.005). There was no correlation between the presence of abnormal B cell clones in peripheral blood and either disease activity or serum antimeasles antibody titers. The results demonstrate that there are increased numbers of clonally restricted B cells in the peripheral blood of MS patients which may be related to the oligoclonal immunoglobulin found in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid.
mesh_terms: D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007147:Immunoglobulin Light Chains / Q000032:analysis*; D007145:Immunoglobulin kappa-Chains / Q000032:analysis*; D007146:Immunoglobulin lambda-Chains / Q000032:analysis*; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000276:immunology; D012016:Reference Values; D013194:Staining and Labeling
chemical_list: D007147:Immunoglobulin Light Chains; D007145:Immunoglobulin kappa-Chains; D007146:Immunoglobulin lambda-Chains