title: Expression profile of Eph receptors and ephrin ligands in healthy human B lymphocytes and chronic lymphocytic leukemia B-cells.
abstract: Increasing information relates some Eph receptors and their ligands, ephrins (EFN), with the immune system. Herein, we found that normal B-cells from peripheral blood (PB) and lymph nodes (LN) showed a differential expression of certain Eph/EFN members, some of them being modulated upon in vitro stimulation including EFNA1, EFNA4, EphB6 and EphA10. In contrast, PB CLL B-cells showed a more heterogeneous Eph/EFN profile than their normal PB B-cell counterparts, expressing Eph/EFN members frequently found within the LN and activated B-cells, specially EFNA4, EphB6 and EphA10. Two of them, EphB6 and EFNA4 were further related with the clinical course of CLL patients. EphB6 expression correlated with a high content of ZAP-70 mRNA and a poor prognosis. High serum levels of a soluble EFNA4 isoform positively correlated with increasing peripheral blood lymphocyte counts and lymphadenopathy. These findings suggest that Eph/EFN might be relevant in normal B-cell biology and could represent new potential prognostic markers and therapeutic targets for CLL.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Microscopia y Citometria, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (U.C.M.), Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Luis M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Alonso-C
authors.forename: Eva M A
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Trinidad
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: de Garcillan
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ballesteros
authors.forename: Milagros
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Castellanos
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cotillo
authors.forename: Juan J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.forename: Agustin G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Zapata
mesh_terms: D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D036385:Ephrin-A4 / Q000235:genetics; D036342:Ephrins / Q000235:genetics*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D015451:Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics; D036081:Receptors, Eph Family / Q000235:genetics*; D051746:ZAP-70 Protein-Tyrosine Kinase / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D036385:Ephrin-A4; D036342:Ephrins; C106797:EPHB6 protein, human; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D036081:Receptors, Eph Family; D051746:ZAP-70 Protein-Tyrosine Kinase