Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) 1 appears to represent a clonal proliferation of B lymphocytes in that the abnormal cells found in blood and tissues have on their surfaces immunoglobulin (Ig) molecules bearing the same idiotype and light chain type. The expression of more than one heavy chain class is known to be compatible with monoclonality (1). The isotypes found most commonly are IgM and...

51p1 is an immunoglobulin VH gene that is frequently expressed in B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia and early in B cell ontogeny. The 51p1 gene locus is highly polymorphic, consisting of 13 alleles that can be classified as being either 51p1-related or hy1263-related, based on distinctive sequence motifs in the second complementarity determining region. Two of the 51p1-related genes usually o...

i mmunoglobulins, produced by plasma cells, are the effector arm of the humoral immune system [1]. Each immunoglobulin consists of two identical heavy chains (α, β, γ, δ or ε – all encoded by chromosome 14) and two identical light chains (either κ or λ, encoded by chromosome 2 and 22, respectively) [2]. The immunoglobulins have constant (C) regions (similar within the same isotype) and variable...

On the 30th anniversary of the discovery of IgE, the last immunoglobulin identified, the discovery and subsequent naming of the immunoglobulins is recounted. The first immunoglobulin-like protein to be discovered was the Bence Jones protein or light chain in 1845. Over 100 years, later, the final isotype, IgE, was discovered. During this century, there have been various names for what we now kn...

Antigens and infectious agents that stimulate interferon alpha(IFN-alpha) production in mice induce antibody responses that are predominantly of the immunoglobulin (Ig)G2a isotype and contain little or no IgE. This suggested the possibility that IFN-alpha might have a role in directing Ig isotype selection. Consistent with this possibility, we have found that injection of mice with recombinant ...

As bstract. B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells appear to be arrested in their differentiation so that little immunoglobulin is secreted in most cases. To determine their capacity for further differentiation we stimulated cells from a series of 10 cases of CLL with a phorbol ester and assayed for production of immunoglobulin protein, accumulation of immunoglobulin mRNA, and alterati...

We report a case of a woman, who initially presented with an non-secreting multiple myeloma, 11 months later, she was diagnosed as an IgD-secreting myeloma. In December, 2010, the patient's serum protein quantification and immunofixation electrophoresis (IFE) revealed polyclonal immunoglobulin with no evidence of monoclonal immunoglobulin. However, her bone marrow smears revealed an abnormal pr...

BACKGROUND Strenuous exercise is associated with tissue damage. This activates the innate immune system and local inflammation. Interaction between innate and adaptive immunity is essential for maintaining health, suggesting that the adaptive immune system may also be altered by exercise. OBJECTIVES To determine exercise induced changes in the adaptive immune system by measuring the immunoglo...

Immunoglobulin (Ig) class switching in B cells is regulated by stimuli transduced by cytokines and cell-cell contact. Among these stimuli, interleukin (IL)-4 has been considered an absolute prerequisite for class switching to IgE in the mouse. Here we report that IL-4-deficient (IL-4-/-) and wildtype mice had comparably elevated serum IgE levels during the course of a murine retrovirus-induced ...