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Updated: Jul 3, 2026

In Vitro Differentiation Model of Human Normal Memory B Cells to Long-lived Plasma Cells
Published on: January 20, 2019
PAX-5 is invariably expressed in B-cell lymphomas without plasma cell differentiation
Aims:
The B-cell-specific transcription factor PAX-5 is physiologically expressed in normal B cells and silenced in plasma cells. The aim of this study was to determine whether PAX-5 expression is universal among B-cell malignancies.
Methods And Results:
A wide spectrum of B-cell malignancies were subjected to immunohistochemical analysis for PAX-5 expression. The study was especially focused on cases lacking CD20, such as precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (preB-ALL), CD20- B-cell lymphomas, classical Hodgkin's lymphoma (CHL) and B-cell lymphomas with significant plasmacytic differentiation. Strong PAX-5 expression was identified, without exception, in all cases of CD20+ B-lymphoproliferative disorders. It was also invariably detected in 31/31 cases of preB-ALL, 14/14 cases of CD20- diffuse large B-cell lymphoma without plasmacytic differentiation and 26/26 CD20- B-cell lymphoma status post rituximab treatment. The vast majority of CHLs had unequivocal PAX-5 expression of varying intensity (80/86). However, variants of B-cell malignancies with characteristic plasmacytic differentiation exhibited no detectable PAX-5 expression (0/17).
Conclusions:
PAX-5 is the most sensitive and reliable immunohistochemical marker for B-cell malignancies. Lack of PAX-5 expression correlates with the presence of marked plasma cell differentiation.
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