B8.7 antigen expression on B-CLL cells and its relationship to the LMW-BCGF responsiveness.

In this work, we studied the expression of B8.7 antigen on B lymphocytes from patients suffering from B type chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) as well as on non Hodgkin lymphoma cells (NHL). B8.7 is an activation marker, which has been reported to be associated with the capacity of activated B cells to respond to LMW-BCGF. B lymphocytes of 11 out of 22 patients tested were B8.7 positive. With the exception of one case, LMW-BCGF is able to induce DNA synthesis by these cells in the absence of costimulation by anti-mu antibodies (anti-mu Ab). The LMW-BCGF dependent proliferation of these malignant cells is inhibited by the anti-B8.7 monoclonal antibody (anti-B8.7 MoAb), in the same line as that of normal B cells. These results obtained with monoclonal B cells confirm that the B8.7 molecule is involved in the signalling pathway of the LMW-BCGF.