MODULATION OF THE EXPRESSION OF CD5 ANTIGEN ON THE SURFACE OF HUMAN PERIPHERAL B-LYMPHOCYTES

In this study, we investigated the expression of CD5 molecules on the surface of mature human peripheral B lymphocytes. Human CD5(+) B cells were isolated from tonsils and peripheral blood. Their terminal differentiation into plasma cells was induced with IL-2. In the presence of this lymphokine, a subset of CD5(+) B cells ceased to express CD5 proteins on their surface. When CD5(+) B cells and non-B cells were removed from the suspension, CD5 antigens were spontaneously reexpressed on the surface of CD5(-) B cells. This suggests that the CD5(-) phenotype of a subset of B cells in these suspensions resulted from pressure(s) exerted on them by the other cellular components of the suspensions. B cells which have reexpressed membrane CD5 in the absence of CD5(+) B cells and non-B cells retained their ability to reprogress to CD5(-) phenotype and to undergo terminal differentiation into plasma cells when stimulated with IL-2. A short exposure (4 hr) of CD5(-) B cells to 5 nM IL-2 resulted in the loss of their capability to spontaneously reexpress surface CD5 in the absence of other lymphoid cells. Taken together, these data suggest that the expression of CD5 antigens on B cell membrane is governed by a network-type balance between all cellular compartments within the suspension. Fluctuations of this equilibrium results in the shuttling of B cells between CD5(+) and CD5(-) phenotypes until they become irreversibly engaged in the terminal differentiation pathway. The interconversion CD5(+) <-> CD5(-) on B cell membrane does not argue for CD5 molecule as the marker of a distinct B cell lineage. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.