PREFERENTIAL IGH V4-34 GENE SEGMENT USAGE IN PARTICULAR SUBTYPES OF B-CELL LYMPHOMA DETECTED BY ANTIBODY 9G4

Immunoglobulin heavy chain locus variable gene segment V4-34 (V(H)4.21 ) use in productive heavy chain (IgH) gene rearrangements has been des cribed in a number of human reactive and autoimmune B cell responses, and has been shown to be frequently used in some series of cases of di ffuse large cell lymphoma (DLCL), The 9G4 antibody is relatively speci fic for the V4-34 gene product and can be used to screen for cells tha t use V4-34 in their productive IgH locus rearrangements. The purposes of this study were to determine the sensitivity of the 9G4 antibody a gainst DLCL cases known to use V4-34, then to screen a variety of huma n lymphoma types for 9G4 reactivity Frozen tissue sections were cut fr om 118 cases of various human lymphomas. Generalized 9G4 membrane reac tivity was identified in 78% of DLCL cases known to use V4-34, 9G4 rea ctivity varied by lymphoma type for the unknown cases, with diffuse la rge cell lymphoma (30%) and mantle cell lymphoma (28%) showing statist ically significant differences (P <.001) from the expected value of 6% V4-34 positivity in peripheral blood B cells. This nonrandom increase d utilization of V4-34 in productive Ig-H locus rearrangements support s the hypothesis that Ig binding specificity may play a role in lympho magenesis. Copyright (C) 1998 by W.B. Saunders Company.