J Korean Neurol Assoc.  1997 Aug;15(4):839-846.

The frequency of CD5 B lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of patients with myasthenia gravis

• Lee SH
• Kim JS
• Lee KW
• Lee KH

Abstract

A subset of human B lymphocytes expresses Leu-l(CD5), a pan T cell markers which is the equivalent of the murine Lyt-1 molecule. The CD5+ B lymphocytes produce autoantibodies such as antibodies to thyrroglobulin, ssDNA, and IgG(rheumatoid factor) in vitro. We studied the frequency of CD5+ B lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of patients with myasthenia gravis compared with these of controls. The heparinized venous blood were drawn from the 18 MG patients and 15 healthy controls. Mononuclear cells were isolated and stained with anti-human Leu-12/FITC(CD19) and anti-human Leu-l/PE(CD5). Following staining, the number of positive cells was determined by flow cytometry. The mean frequency+/-SD of CD5+ B cells in the peripheral blood of MG patients was 24.6+/-18.7% with a range of 4.1 to 78.5%. For controls the mean frequency was 15.1+13.4% with a range of 0 to 38. 1%. Although we could not find any significant statistical difference (p=0.0763) in the frequency of CD5+ B lymphocyte between the MG patients and controls in this study, them was significant correlation(p=0.03) between the frequency of CD5+ B lymphocytes and the serum anti-AChR Ab titer, This may suggest possible role of CD5+ B lymphocyte in the production of anti-AChR Ab and thus producing neuromuscular transmission defect in myasthenia gravis.

MeSH Terms

Antibodies
Autoantibodies
B-Lymphocytes*
Flow Cytometry
Heparin
Humans
Lymphocytes
Myasthenia Gravis*
Antibodies
Autoantibodies
Heparin