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Updated: Aug 10, 2026
Lipid Droplet Isolation for Quantitative Mass Spectrometry Analysis
Published on: April 17, 2017
Molecular analysis of V(H)I+ B lymphocytes in hepatitis C patients
L Galli-Stampino1, A Pasqualini, G Pozzato
1Department of Immunology, IRIS, Chiron S.r.l., Via Fiorentina, 1, 1-53100 Siena, Italy.
Background And Aims:
Hepatitis C virus infection is often associated with lymphoproliferative disorders such as essential mixed cryoglobulinemia and B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which show preferential expression of VHI family products. By analyzing immunoglobulin heavy chain usage, we addressed the question of whether or not clonal B-cell expansion occurrs in patients free of essential mixed cryoglobulinemia or non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Patients And Methods:
Four hepatitis C virus-positive patients, all undergoing liver transplantation, were studied. Peripheral blood, intra-hepatic, and lymph node lymphocytes were used as a source of B cells. A patient with hepatocellular carcinoma and fresh blood from four healthy donors were used as negative controls. VHI family sequences were cloned and analyzed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction.
Results:
Immunoglobulin heavy chain sequences from clonally expanded B lymphocytes were identified in three out of four hepatitis C virus-infected patients. The clonally expanded B lymphocyte populations showed a broad spectra of immunoglobulin heavy chain gene usage.
Conclusions:
HCV infection can induce B-cell expansion with larger clonal variation. The restricted V gene usage in hepatitis C virus-associated non-Hodgkin lymphoma suggests that there may be selection mechanisms to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma from non-malignant, clonally expanded B-cell populations in hepatitis C virus-infected patients.
