title: Characterization of early stages of human B cell development by gene expression profiling.
abstract: We have characterized several stages of normal human B cell development in adult bone marrow by gene expression profiling of hemopoietic stem cells, early B (E-B), pro-B, pre-B, and immature B cells, using RNA amplification and Lymphochip cDNA microarrays (n = 6). Hierarchical clustering of 758 differentially expressed genes clearly separated the five populations. We used gene sets to investigate the functional assignment of the differentially expressed genes. Genes involved in VDJ recombination as well as B lineage-associated transcription factors (TCF3 (E2A), EBF, BCL11A, and PAX5) were turned on in E-B cells, before acquisition of CD19. Several transcription factors with unknown roles in B lymphoid cells demonstrated interesting expression patterns, including ZCCHC7 and ZHX2. Compared with hemopoietic stem cells and pro-B cells, E-B cells had increased expression of 18 genes, and these included IGJ, IL1RAP, BCL2, and CD62L. In addition, E-B cells expressed T/NK lineage and myeloid-associated genes including CD2, NOTCH1, CD99, PECAM1, TNFSF13B, and MPO. Expression of key genes was confirmed at the protein level by FACS analysis. Several of these Ags were heterogeneously expressed, providing a basis for further subdivision of E-B cells. Altogether, these results provide new information regarding expression of genes in early stages of human B cell development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Institute for Cancer Research, Rikshospitalet-Radiumhospitalet Medical Centre, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Marit E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Hystad
authors.forename: June H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Myklebust
authors.forename: Trond H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Bø
authors.forename: Einar A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Sivertsen
authors.forename: Edith
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rian
authors.forename: Lise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Forfang
authors.forename: Else
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Munthe
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosenwald
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chiorazzi
authors.forename: Inge
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Jonassen
authors.forename: Louis M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Staudt
authors.forename: Erlend B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Smeland
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016175:B-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000276:immunology*; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000276:immunology; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D005784:Gene Amplification; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000276:immunology; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis