ISSN:
0002-9106
Keywords:
Life and Medical Sciences
;
Cell & Developmental Biology
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Peripheral blood lymphocytes from three patients with defective differentiation of B cells were studied by routine electron microscopic techniques. One patient had severe combined immunodeficiency with rudimentary development of the B cell line. Two had immune deficits secondary to the B cell malignancy, chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Accumulations of tuboreticular structures were found in the cytoplasm of lymphocytes from the severe combined immune deficiency patient, sometimes in close association with annulate lamellae. The tuboreticular structures resemble those described in lymphocytes and endothelial cells of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. In one patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, cylindrical arrangements of ribosomal material occupied the cytoplasm of many lymphocytes. These cylinders were observed in samples of blood drawn at different times and after tissue culture of lymphocytes with and without pokeweed mitogen. The other patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia had circulating lymphocytes with material identified as IgM in the perinuclear spaces and dilated cisternae of the rough endoplasmic reticulum. This material sometimes had a crystalline structure.These observations indicate that in some cases functional immunological deficits in B cells, manifested by failure to differentiate to mature secretory cells, may be correlated with morphological aberrations of protein-manufacturing organelles within the cell.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aja.1001400407
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