1. Characterization of Circulating Monoclonal B Lymphocytes in Patients with HCV Infection
- Author
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Michitoshi Hashiguchi, Takumi Kawaguchi, Kohji Yoshimoto, Michio Sata, Rie Imamura, Kazuaki Yakushiji, Takato Ueno, Taisuke Kanaji, Eijiro Oku, Satoshi Morishige, Koichi Osaki, Korenori Ohtsubo, Ritsuko Seki, Takashi Okamura, and Yuka Takata
- Subjects
CD20 ,Lymphocyte ,Immunology ,Cell Biology ,Hematology ,Gene rearrangement ,Biology ,Immunoglobulin light chain ,Biochemistry ,Virology ,Molecular biology ,CD19 ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,biology.protein ,medicine ,Antibody ,CD5 ,B cell - Abstract
Hepatitis C virus (HCV), being lymphotrophic as well as hepatotrophic, has been reported to induce B-cell proliferative disorders such as mixed cryoglobulinemia and B-cell lymphoma. To investigate the association between HCV and B-cell proliferation, we evaluated the incidence and characteristics of monoclonal B cells in the circulating blood of HCV-infected cases relative to controls with non-HCV hepatic diseases. We first evaluated the surface immunoglobulin κ:λ light-chain ratios of the circulating B (CD19+) cells in 240 HCV-infected cases and 150 controls. Light chain restriction (κ:λ ratio >3:1 or < 1:2) was detected in 7 cases with HCV (2.9%) (Table 1), but was never detected in the controls ( p
- Published
- 2008