A novel membrane antigen selectively expressed on terminally differentiated human B cells.

A monoclonal antibody (MoAb) that defines a novel terminal B-cell-restricted antigen, termed HM1.24, was developed against a human plasma cell line. The MoAb, designated anti-HM1.24, reacted with five different human myeloma cell lines, as well as with monoclonal neoplastic plasma cells obtained from the bone marrow or peripheral blood of patients with multiple myeloma or Waldenström's macroglobulinemia. The HM1.24 antigen was also expressed by mature Ig-secreting B cells (plasma cells and lymphoplasmacytoid cells) but not by other cells contained in the peripheral blood, bone marrow, liver, spleen, kidney, or heart of normal individuals or patients with non-plasma-cell-related malignancies. The anti-HM1.24 MoAb bound to human myeloma RPMI 8226 cells with an affinity constant of 9.2 x 10(8) M-1, indicating approximately 84,000 sites/cell. By immunoprecipitation assay under reducing conditions, this MoAb identified a membrane glycoprotein that had a molecular weight of 29 to 33 kD. Our studies indicate that the HM1.24-related protein represents a specific marker of late-stage B-cell maturation and potentially serves as a target antigen for the immunotherapy of multiple myeloma and related plasma cell dyscrasias.