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Pre-B cells: Normal and abnormal development

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Abstract

The immediate precursors of B lymphocytes have been recently identified in fetal liver and in bone marrow. Immunoglobulin genes, first of the heavy-chain gene family and later from one of the light-chain gene families, are selected and undergo functional rearrangements on one of each chromosomal pair during this stage of differentiation. Thus clonal diversity is generated among cycling pre-B cells that lack the surface antibody expression which characterizes their B-cell progeny. While the number of discriminating markers for pre-B cells is still limited, examination of bone marrow pre-B cells containing cytoplasmic μ chains but lacking surface immunoglobulin has already revealed an informative spectrum of early differentiation defects in antibody deficiency diseases and malignancies of B lineage.

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  1. The Cellular Immunobiology Unit of the Tumor Institute, Departments of Pediatrics and Microbiology, and The Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama in Birmingham, 35294, Birmingham, Alabama

    Max D. Cooper

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Cooper, M.D. Pre-B cells: Normal and abnormal development. J Clin Immunol 1, 81–89 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00915383

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