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Bone marrow Ig-secreting cells in patients with malignant lymphoma
1First Department of Internal Medicine, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.
Abstract:
Bone marrow immunoglobulin (Ig)-secreting cells of three major Ig classes were quantitated in patients with malignant lymphoma with or without definite bone marrow invasion, using a protein A hemolytic plaque assay. The mean percentage of each class of Ig-secreting cells in patients without bone marrow invasion was 77% for IgG, 17% for IgA, and 6% for IgM, whereas it was 86% for IgG, 6% for IgA, and 8% for IgM in patients with definite bone marrow invasion. An increase in bone marrow Ig-secreting cells of the same Ig class that is detected on the surface of lymphoma cells and that is consistent with the concentration of the same serum monoclonal Ig is considered to indicate the presence of metastatic lymphoma cells in the bone marrow. A decrease in the percentage of bone marrow IgA-secreting cells was a consistent feature in patients with definite bone marrow invasion.