Isolation of germinal centerlike events from human spleen RNA. Somatic hypermutation of a clonally related VH6DJH rearrangement expressed with IgM, IgG, and IgA.

12 rearranged human VH6 immunoglobulin heavy chain genes arising from the same rearrangement were isolated without preselection from the RNA of a fragment of human spleen. The 12 clones were isolated from a pool of 31 unique VH6 clones arising from 18 unique rearrangements. 2 of the 12 related clones were expressed with IgM, 2 with IgG, and 8 with IgA1. All the clones, including those expressing IgM, showed extensive somatic mutation of germline bases (5.6%), which was consistent with antigen-driven activation of these VH6-expressing clones with recruitment into the immune repertoire. On the basis of significant sharing of somatic mutations between the IgM clones and clones expressing the other isotypes (six mutations shared with IgG clones and eight mutations shared with IgA clones), it was apparent that the IgM-expressing precursor in this diversified family had undergone extensive antigen-driven somatic mutation prior to isotype switching. This family of related clones suggests that a germinal centerlike event had been sampled. The highly mutated IgM clones suggest that there may exist memory B cells capable of further somatic mutation and differential isotype-switching depending on the specific antigenic stimulus.