title: Circulating clonal lymphocytes in myeloma constitute a minor subpopulation of B cells.
abstract: The mononuclear cells in the blood of myeloma patients have been reported to contain a high proportion of phenotypically abnormal myeloma B lymphocytes. These cells have been proposed to constitute the drug-resistant proliferative myeloma cell compartment. To determine the extent of B lymphocyte involvement, the proportion of clonotypic cells among the CD19-expressing cells from myeloma patients was estimated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis of the third complementarity determining region (CDR3). The results indicate that the B lymphocytes constitute, on average, 6% of blood mononuclear cells, and that only a minor fraction of these are clonally related to the myeloma cells. While the small number of circulating clonal cells is not incompatible with their proposed role as a reservoir of proliferating myeloma progenitors, the majority of the B cells appear not to be clonally related to the myeloma cells.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology/Oncology, ArkansasCancer Research Center, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, USA.
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Epstein
mesh_terms: D018941:Antigens, CD19; D016175:B-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000473:pathology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology; D002469:Cell Separation; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D015326:Gene Rearrangement, B-Lymphocyte, Heavy Chain; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009101:Multiple Myeloma / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D009194:Myeloma Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D010950:Plasma Cells / Q000473:pathology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D018941:Antigens, CD19; D009194:Myeloma Proteins