Quantitative immunofluorescent analysis of surface phenotypes of murine B cell lymphomas and plasmacytomas with monoclonal antibodies.

In this study, a large series of murine B lymphomas and plasmacytomas were examined by quantitative flow cytometry analysis using a panel of monoclonal antibodies against murine differentiation antigens. These cell lines appear to represent subpopulations of lymphoid cells arrested at distinct stages of differentiation. In general, the pattern of reactions of these monoclonal antibodies with the B cell neoplasms was comparable to the reactions seen with normal cells in the same lineage. The Thy-1.2, Lyt-2, and T-30 differentiation antigens were not detected on any B lymphoma or plasmacytoma. However, certain surface Ig-positive B lymphomas do express the Lyt-1 antigen. With respect to other differentiation markers examined, including E2, F1, ThB, Lgp-100 (Ly 9.1), G2, and T-200 (Ly 5), the reaction of the B cell tumors reflected the expression of these markers on comparable normal cells. This investigation also emphasized the marked intratumor and intertumor heterogeneity that is observed when cloned cell lines are analyzed quantitatively for a large number of surface markers. Thus, this approach may be particularly useful in defining heterogeneity in maturation states within cloned tumor cell lines.