Abstract
T cell responses against leukemia-associated antigens have been reported in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). However, the relentless accumulation of CLL B cells in some patients indicates that antitumor immune responses are inefficient. Inhibitory receptors from the Ig-like transcript (ILT) family, such as ILT3 and ILT4, are crucial to the tolerogenic activity of antigen presenting cells. In this study, we examined the expression of ILT3 on CD5+ B cells obtained from 47 patients with CLL. Using flow cytometry and RT-PCR, we found that B CLL cells from 23 of 47 patients expressed ILT3 protein and mature ILT3 mRNA. ILT3 protein and mRNA were not found in normal B cells obtained from donors without CLL. Expression of ILT4 in normal and B CLL cells showed a pattern similar to ILT3. The frequency of ILT3 positive CLL B cells was higher in patients with lymphoid tissue involvement, suggesting that ILT3 may have prognostic value in CLL. Our findings indicate that expression of ILT3 and ILT4 on CLL B cells represents a phenotypic abnormality that may play a role in tolerization of tumor-specific T cells.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 354-362 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Cytometry Part B - Clinical Cytometry |
Volume | 72 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2007 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Chronic lymphocytic leukemia
- Flow cytometry
- Immunoglobulin-like transcript
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pathology and Forensic Medicine
- Histology
- Cell Biology