Autoantibody activity of the immunoglobulin secreted by a follicular B-cell lymphoma

Abstract

In patients with B-cell lymphoma, only in rare cases a secreted paraprotein is found, and in very few of them an associated autoantibody activity has been demonstrated. Here we report the case of a patient with a low-grade B-cell lymphoma with a serum biclonal paraprotein (G,M)l and severe erythroblastopenia. Indirect immunofluorescence studies of total serum revealed cytoplasmic (Hep-2 cells) and extracellular matrix (rat tissue sections) staining, suggestive of a new specificity. After gel filtration of serum samples, only the IgM-containing fraction showed the same pattern of staining. Tumor-derived hybridomas expressed an unmutated V3–11 gene identical to that found in tumor samples and secreted an IgM immunoglobulin endowed with the same reactivity, which confirms the tumoral origin of the tissue-reactive protein. The results suggest a link between the autoimmune condition in this patient and the novel specificity displayed by the tumor-derived immunoglobulin.