A 63-year-old woman on rituximab maintenance for follicular lymphoma presented with headaches, vomiting, and fever, and was diagnosed with eastern equine encephalomyelitis by cerebrospinal fluid polymerase chain reaction. Eastern equine encephalomyelitis immunoglobulin (Ig)G/IgM remained negative due to rituximab treatment, and magnetic resonance imaging showed minimal abnormalities, making thi...

Germ-line transcripts of the immunoglobulin (Ig) and T cell receptor loci are thought to be involved in the control of V gene rearrangement by rendering these loci accessible to the recombinases. We have analyzed the transcriptional activity of germ-line K alleles in two bone marrow-derived Abelson-murine leukemia virus transformed pre-B cells: 300-19, a null cell line, and P8 a mu-producing li...

Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is the most common form of severe antibody deficiency. The disorder is associated with a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations, including infections and chronic lung, gastrointestinal and autoimmune diseases. A 29-year-old female patient has had frequent sinopulmonary infections and gastroenteritis for the last 20 years and had been given broad-spectr...

We have constructed a soluble chimeric fusion protein between the mouse CD8 alpha chain and the mouse CD40 T cell ligand. This protein binds to both human and mouse B cells. By itself it induced a modest degree of B cell proliferation, but together with anti-immunoglobulin (anti-Ig) antibody it greatly stimulated B cell proliferation, as determined by both [3H]thymidine uptake and increase in c...

A new method to quantitate circulating cells secreting immunoglobulin (Ig) of each type of the different classes by hemolytic plaque technique is reported. The ratio of kappa (k)-secreting cells and lambda(lambda)-secreting cells of the different lg classes in normal individuals is almost equal to that of kappa:lambda light chains in corresponding serum lg class, whereas the ratio in plasma cel...

The prevalence of polyneuropathy in patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) has been reported to be 10-50%. The majority of patients have a chronic, slowly progressive, distal, symmetric and predominantly sensory polyneuropathy. A caused relationship between polyneuropathy and immunoglobulin (Ig)M MGUS is better established than the relationship between polyneuro...

OcaB, a transcriptional coactivator also known as Bob-1 or OBF-1, was isolated on the basis of its ability to enhance transcription of immunoglobulin (Ig) genes in vitro. Paradoxically, OcaB(-/-) mice showed no apparent deficiency in Ig gene transcription, only cellular immune defects including absence of germinal centers (GC) and decreased numbers of immature B cells; the genes targeted by Oca...

Based on protein sequence, we have isolated a cDNA for intercellular adhesion molecule 3 (ICAM-3), the most recently defined counter-receptor for lymphocyte function-associated antigen 1 (LFA-1). Expression of the cDNA yields a product that reacts with monoclonal antibody to ICAM-3 and functions as a ligand for LFA-1. The deduced 518-amino acid sequence of the predicted mature protein defines a...

Studies of hairy cell leukemia have yielded conflicting data about the cell of origin in this disease. To investigate this issue, we have examined the state of immunoglobulin genes in the cells of 1 1 randomly selected spleens showing histologic involvement with hairy cell leukemia. DNA was extracted from splenic tissue samples and digested with restriction endonucleases. Following agarose gel ...