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Immunological phenotyping of acute leukaemias is important for a more precise diagnosis with respect to both cell lineage and maturation level. We have developed a rapid and reliable method for immunophenotyping, based on the use of magnetic monodisperse beads coated with monoclonal antibodies. After only a 10-min incubation of immunomagnetic beads (IMB) with mononuclear cells isolated from bone marrow or peripheral blood, the percentage of rosetting cells can be counted in the microscope. A panel of 16 monoclonal antibodies against haematopoietic cell-surface antigens was applied on 29 cases of acute myelogenic (AML) or lymphocytic (ALL) leukaemias, in order to compare immunological typing by immunomagnetic beads with immunofluorescence staining (IF). In all the cases tested, the two methods showed a virtually identical antigen distribution. The procedure described offers the advantages of being fast and simple to perform. Moreover, it has a high specificity and is easy to interpret in cases with low antigen expression.

Cells from eight selected cases of human non-Hodgkin lymphomas of various histological types (lymphocytic, centrocytic, centrocytic/centroblastic, and immunocytomas) were stimulated in vitro with 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) and anti-immunoglobulins (anti-Ig) against the surface immunoglobulin (sIg) on the tumour cells. Six of these cases responded by intracellular Ig accumulation as measured by flow cytofluorometry and direct phenotypical change into immunoblasts/plasmablasts as detected by light microscopic immunocytochemistry. However, the response to TPA alone varied considerably from case to case. These findings suggest that many, if not all, B-cell subsets have the capacity to develop directly into Ig-synthesizing cells (immunoblasts and plasmablasts). However, conditions for eliciting such events may vary, depending on the phenotypical properties and differentiation stage.

In all of four human germinal centre cell-associated B lymphomas carrying sIgM + sIgD F(ab')2 fragments of rabbit antibodies to human mu-chain were accumulated intracellularly, whereas the accumulation of antibodies to delta-chain was considerably less abundant. The accumulation of antibodies to light chain was intermediate between antibodies to mu- and delta-chain. These results could be explained by the following observations: (i) the difference in the level of reexpression of sIgM and sIgD and (ii) the discovery that antibodies to delta-chain bound to reexpressed sIgD were degraded at a higher rate than those bound to primary sIgD and at a higher rate than antibodies to mu-chain, whether bound to primary or reexpressed sIgM.

The effect of anti-Igs in combination with the tumour promotor TPA on DNA and Ig synthesis in a human follicular germinal centre cell lymphoma carrying sIgM and sIgD was investigated. The lymphoma cells responded to both anti-mu and anti-delta chains and to anti-lambda light chains by DNA synthesis, as measured by methyl-(3H)-thymidine incorporation. Flow cytofluorometric measurements, however, showed that only anti-mu chains induced marked increase in cytoplasmic Ig content. This result suggests that in certain B-cell subsets the signals elicited via sIgM and sIgD are different.

We have investigated the possibility to employing magnetic monodisperse polymer particles for positive selection of human peripheral blood mononuclear cell populations. By carefully titrating the ratio between particles and cells we succeeded in isolating a number of cell populations that could be cultivated subsequently in vitro for functional studies. The success of the procedure is partly dependent on the properties of the monoclonal antibodies used to sensitize the cells. Provided these antibodies do not react with membrane structures involved in the transduction of activating signals, highly purified, quiescent cell populations can be recovered in a single fractionation step. In most instances particles will detach from the isolated cells by overnight culture, and the particles can then be removed from the system by a suitable magnet. T lymphocytes, subpopulations of T lymphocytes, and B lymphocytes have been isolated in this way and studied in a variety of functional assay systems. Comparison with cells obtained after negative selection clearly demonstrates the usefulness of this technique, especially if the membrane marker selected for it is not directly engaged in the activation processes.