Immunofluorescence in Cells Derived from Burkitt's Lymphoma

Abstract

Indirect immunofluorescence tests led to the brilliant staining of a small proportion of the cells in five different cultures derived from Burkitt's (African) lymphomas. The reaction was not restricted to the 17 sera from cases of this disease but extended to many sera from American individuals, whether healthy donors or patients suffering from a variety of illnesses. The incidence of positive sera increased with age from about 30% in childhood to >90% in adults. Fluorescein-isothiocyanate-conjugated human 7-globulins were suitable for direct staining of the same proportion of cells. The stained cells appeared to be in varying stages of degeneration, but cultural conditions leading to an increase in the cellular death rates failed to result in a rise in fluorescent cells. Several observations suggest that the stainable cells might be those which are seen to harbor virus particles under the electron microscope. Two cell lines derived from leukemic patients in this country also contained a small fraction of stainable cells but two others, and numerous primary human leukocyte cultures, gave consistently negative results. Attempts to relate the staining to known viral antigens have failed to implicate herpes simplex, varicella, cytomegalo, and reo viruses types 1, 2, and 3. The nature of the virus carried by the lymphoma cells as well as of the staining reactions remains to be determined.

Prognostic factors in Burkitt's lymphoma importance of total tumor burden

“…The distribution of the patients in the study with respect to sex and stage was not significantly unbalanced ( P < 0.1 using the two by two contingency Patients in Stage CD tended to be older than those 'I'ARLT. 6 in Stage AB ( P = 0.07). This correlation was highly significant (P < 0.006) when a single patient aged 28 years (the next oldest was 14 years) was excluded from the analysis (Fig.…”

“…Elevated anti-EA titer correlated significantly with short survival but neither stage nor anti-EA, if adjusted for the other, was predictive of survival. An No. 6 CORRELATES OF TUMOR BURDEN actuarial survival curve according to anti-EA titer is shown in Figure 5.…”

Biology of the human malignant lymphomas. IV. Functional characterization of ten diffuse histiocytic lymphoma cell lines

“…Antibody Determinations: The patients' sera were titrated for antibodies to the EB viral capsid antigens (VCA) and the EBV-induced early antigen (EA) complex, composed of diffuse (D) and restricted (R) components, by indirect immunofluorescence (IF) tests (33,34), and for antibodies to the EBVassociated nuclear antigen (EBNA) by anticomplement immunofluorescence (ACIF) tests. 63 Detection of EB V-related Antigens: Lymphoma and lymphoblastoid cells were gently pelleted by centrifugation and resuspended in a small quantity of fetal calf serum.…”

Identification of the coding region for a second Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen (EBNA 2) by transfection of cloned DNA fragments.

“…Antibody titers against VCA and EA antibodies were determined by indirect immunofluorescence (Henle and Henle, 1966) on slides containing P3HR-1 cells and Raji cells induced by 12-0-terdecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, respectively. Antibody titers against EBNA were determined on Raji cells by ACIF (Reedman and Klein, 1973).…”