(American Journal of Pathology. 2001;158:1473-1480.)
© 2001 American Society for Investigative Pathology
Expression of Leukemia-Associated Antigen, JL1, in Bone Marrow and Thymus
Young Kee Shin*
,
Eun Young Choi*,
Seok Hyung Kim*,
Junho Chung
,
Doo Hyun Chung*,
Weon Seo Park§,
Kyeong Cheon Jung¶,
Heung Sik Kim||,
Seonyang Park**,
Hee Jin Kim
,
Myoung Hee Park
,
Chang Ki Min
,
Chun Choo Kim
and
Seong Hoe Park*
From the Departments of Pathology,*
Internal
Medicine,**
Clinical
Pathology,

and
Biochemistry,
Seoul National University
College of Medicine, Seoul; DiNonA Inc.,
Suwon; the Department of Pathology,§
Kangwon
National University College of Medicine, Chunchon; the Department of
Pathology,¶
Hallym University College of Medicine,
Chunchon; the Catholic HSCT
Center,

St. Marys Hospital,
The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul; and the Department of
Pediatrics,||
Keimyung University College of Medicine,
Taegu, Korea
 |
Abstract
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The identification of immunophenotypic markers with restricted
expression has long been a critical issue in diagnostic and therapeutic
advances for acute leukemias. We previously developed a monoclonal
antibody against a new thymocyte surface antigen, JL1,
and showed that JL1 is expressed in the majority of acute leukemia
cases. In this study, using multiparameter flow cytometric
analyses, we found that JL1 was uniquely expressed in
subpopulations of normal bone marrow (BM) cells, implying the
association of JL1 with the differentiation and maturation process.
Although CD34+ CD10+ lymphoid precursors and
some of maturing myeloid cells express JL1, neither
CD34+ CD38-/lo nor CD34+
AC133+ noncommitted pluripotent stem cells do. As for the
myeloid precursors, CD34+ CD33+ cells
do not express JL1. During lymphopoiesis, JL1 on the earliest
lymphoid precursors disappear in the CD20+
sIgM+ stage of B-cell development or after CD1a
down-regulation in thymocytes. Despite the highly restricted expression
of JL1 in normal BM cells, most of the leukemias express JL1
irrespective of their immunophenotypes. These results indicate that JL1
is not only a novel differentiation antigen of hematopoietic
cells, but also a leukemia-associated antigen.
Therefore, we suggest that JL1 be a candidate molecule in acute
leukemia for the diagnosis and immunotherapy that spares the normal BM
stem cells.
 |
Introduction
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Leukemia-specific phenotypes, identified by monoclonal antibodies
(mAbs) recognizing various cell surface antigens, have long played
essential roles in the diagnosis and classification of leukemia.
Because the antigens found on certain leukemic cells are also expressed
on the surfaces of the normal counterparts in a developmental
stage-dependent manner, they can be used as markers for lineage and
differentiation. For instance, differentiation antigens such as CD34,
CD10 (CALLA), CD13, CD19, CD7, CD20, CD33, and CD13 that are expressed
on specific subsets of normal hematopoietic cells have been used
as diagnostic markers for leukemic cells. Therefore, the
characterization of molecules on the surface of hematopoietic cells is
critical for the diagnosis of leukemia as well as for the understanding
of hematopoiesis.
Acute leukemia still remains a
therapeutic challenge in medical practice even in the age of high cure
rates for pediatric leukemia with the advent of intensification of
chemotherapy along with hematopoietic stem cell rescue.1
It is therefore not surprising that alternative strategies, possessing
distinct action mechanisms to complement currently used treatment
approaches, are needed and immunotherapy has been an appealing
candidate.2-5
In the past trials, mAb-based immunotherapy
targeting leukocyte-specific antigens such as CD33, CD45, and CDw52 has
been evaluated for the treatment of leukemia.6-16
Although immunotherapy might be an attractive approach for the
treatment of patients with leukemia, all these antibody-based
immunotherapies are dependent on limited antigenic properties
themselves. As a consequence, it is worth trying to develop mAb(s) that
recognize(s) specific antigen(s) with the restricted expression
profile.
We previously reported a mAb against a novel human thymocyte
differentiation antigen, designated as JL1,17
which is not
expressed on mature T cells. We further showed that the anti-JL1 mAb
broadly recognizes various types of acute leukemias of myeloid and B
cell origins as well as T cell lineage.18
This strong
co-relationship between JL1 positivity and the diagnosis of leukemia
prompted us to investigate the expression pattern of JL1 antigen in
normal leukocytes during hematopoiesis in detail. Although JL1 antigen
was initially reported not to be expressed in the majority of normal
unfractionated bone marrow (BM) cells, if not all, there remained a
possibility that a small proportion of BM cells do express JL1, because
of the high heterogeneity of mononuclear cells (MNCs) in normal
BM.18
In the present study, to dissect the expression
patterns of JL-1 antigen on the leukocytes of different lineage and
maturation stages in BM, cord blood (CB), and thymus, we fractionated
the MNCs using lineage-specific markers and re-evaluated JL1 expression
on their surfaces. We found that JL1 molecules are expressed on some of
the precursor cells of lymphoid and myelomonocytic lineages but not on
pluripotent stem cells. As most of the leukemias express JL1 antigen on
the cell surfaces, anti-JL1 mAb may have the implications for the
immunotherapeutic potential for the treatment of leukemia.
 |
Materials and Methods
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Cell Preparation
CB cells (n = 7) were obtained at Keimyung
University Hospital, and normal (n = 3) or
G-CSF-primed (n = 10) BM cells were aspirated
from the posterior iliac crests of healthy adult and pediatric
transplantation donors with written consents following guidelines
approved by the Institutional Review Board for Human Research, Seoul
National University Hospital or Catholic University Hospital in
conformity with the Helsinki protocols. Recombinant human G-CSF
(Filgrastim; Amgen, Thousand Oaks, CA) was administered subcutaneously
at a dosage of 10 µg/kg/day for 3 consecutive days. Both BM aspirates
and CB were drawn into 10-ml syringes containing 100 U of
preservative-free heparin and then diluted with RPMI 1640 (Life
Technologies, Inc., Grand Island, NY) supplemented with 100 U/ml
penicillin/streptomycin (Life Technologies, Inc.). MNCs were isolated
by density-gradient centrifugation on Ficoll-Hypaque (1077
g/cm3; Pharmacia, Uppsala, Sweden). Normal thymic
specimens (n = 5) were obtained from children
(<3 years old) undergoing corrective cardiac surgery. Thymocyte
single-cell suspensions were prepared, washed, and used for
immunofluorescence staining.
Antibodies
The murine mAbs, anti-JL1, were produced and purified as
previously described.17,19
Biotinylation of anti-JL1 mAb
was performed with biotin hydrazine (Pierce, Rockford, IL) according to
the manufacturers protocols.20,21
The directly labeled
mAbs were purchased as follows: CD1a (YG19-FITC), CD4 (YG22-PE), CD8
(DN17-FITC), CD10 (D4-3-1-PE), CD16 (GRM-1-PE), CD19 (SJ25-C1-FITC,
-PE), CD20 (B-Ly1-PE), CD33 (WM53-PE), CD45 (AP4-FITC), CD56
(ERIC-1-PE), and CD71 (RVS10-PE) from DiNonA Inc. (Suwon, Korea); CD3
(UCHT1-FITC, -PE) from Southern Biotechnology Associates, Inc.
(Birmingham, AL); CD34 (HPCA2-FITC, -PE) from Becton Dickinson
Immunocytometry Systems (BDIS, San Jose, CA); CD23 (M-L233-PE), CD38
(HIT2-PE), IgD (IA6-2-PE), IgM (G20127-PE) from PharMingen (San
Diego, CA); AC133 (AC133/2-PE) from Miltenyl Biotec (Bergisch Gladbach,
Germany). As for the control experiments, cells were incubated with
fluorochrome-labeled isotype-matched controls (IgG1-FITC, -PE;
Ig2a-FITC, -PE, biotinylated IgG1). For biotinylated antibodies,
streptavidin-cychrome (PharMingen) were used as third fluorochrome for
the analysis. Especially, JL1lo cells were well
visualized, because cychrome-conjugated streptavidin has excellent
quantum efficiency. All stained cells were analyzed using FACScalibur
(BDIS) flow cytometry.
Immunofluorescence Staining and Flow Cytometric Analysis
Three-color flow cytometric analysis was used for anti-JL1 mAb
screening. The 106
cells were first incubated
with biotinylated mAbs in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) containing
1% bovine serum albumin and 0.1% sodium azide for 30 minutes at
4°C. These cells were then washed with PBS and stained with
cychrome-conjugated streptavidin. To minimize nonspecific staining in
three-color fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis, this
step was followed by incubation with unlabeled irrelevant-murine IgG1
(MOPC21; Sigma, St. Louis, MO) or mouse serum (DAKO, Carpinteria, CA).
After indirect staining, relevant fluorochrome-labeled mAbs were used.
Before analysis, the cell suspension was passed through a 30-µm nylon
mesh (Swiss Silk Bolting Mfg. Co., Zurich, Switzerland). Flow
cytometric analysis was performed on a FACScalibur (BDIS) equipped with
an argon laser tuned with 488 nm. Forward light scattering, orthogonal
light scattering, and fluorescence signals (FL-1-FITC, FL-2-PE or
-Red613, FL-3-cychrome) were stored in list mode data files. Results
were analyzed for at least 10,000 cells (10,000 to 30,000 cells) per
test using the CellQuest software program (BDIS).
Immunophenotyping of Leukemia and Statistical Analysis
To analyze JL-1 expression in leukemic cells from the clinical
material, BM specimens from the consecutive patients diagnosed as
leukemia in the Seoul National University Hospital were used. The
classification of the acute leukemia was made according to the
French-American-British classification. MNCs were isolated by
Ficoll-Hypaque density gradient centrifugation. The immunophenotype of
the leukemic cells was determined by the same method described
previously.18
According to the standard criteria, samples
were considered positive when the percentage of stained cells exceeded
that of the control by at least 20%. Expression of JL1 or CD34 antigen
in leukemia cases was given as a percentage of positive cases. For the
statistical analysis of correlation, the expressions of JL1 and CD34
antigens were considered as discontinuous variables. All chi-square
P values indicated were two-tailed and reported as
statistically significant if less than 0.05. The processing and
statistical analysis of the data were performed with the software SPSS
V6.1.2. (SPSS, INC., Chicago, IL).
 |
Results
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JL1 Expression of Lineage-Committed Leukocytes in BM
JL1 expression in fresh BM MNCs was investigated using
multiparameter FACS analysis with a panel of conjugated mAbs directed
against leukocyte surface antigens. Although we previously reported
that JL1 antigen was not detectable in unfractionated BM
cells,18
we have reproducibly observed a minimal
subpopulation of JL1-expressing cells in subsequent experiments. To
confirm the presence of JL1+ subpopulations in BM
cells, we first performed FACS analysis with a use of CD45 intensity
side-scatter gating and painting and identified
JL1+ cells in various leukocyte
lineages.22-25
As shown in Figure 1
, BM MNCs were able to be separated into
four distinct clusters such as lymphoid lineages (R1), myelomonocytic
lineages (R2), early precursors (R3), and nucleated red blood cells
(R4). The types of corresponding leukocytes in each of the gated
regions were confirmed by staining with the respective lineage markers
(data not shown). JL1+ cells were detected in
CD19+ B cells and CD34+
early precursors, whereas CD3+ T cells,
CD16+ NK cells, and nucleated erythrocytes did
not express JL1 antigen. The expression pattern of JL1 in the
myelomonocytic region was heterogeneous and divided into three
subgroups (Figure 3
, see below). These results were also observed in CB
MNCs (data not shown).

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Figure 1. Flow cytometric analysis of JL1 expression of BM leukocytes. MNCs
obtained by density-gradient separation were labeled with biotinylated
JL1 mAb and SA-cychrome, followed by staining with CD45-FITC in
combination with CD3-PE, CD19-PE, CD16-PE, CD33-PE, CD71-PE, or
CD34-PE, respectively. Normal BM cells were divided into four normal
populations by CD45-side scatter analysis and the expressions of JL1 as
well as lineage-specific markers were measured on the corresponding
regions. R1, lymphocytes and lymphoblasts; R2, myelomonocytic lineage;
R3, early precursors; R4, erythroid cells including nucleated red blood
cells.
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Figure 3. Three-color flow cytometric analysis of JL1 expression in myeloid
population of G-CSF-treated BM MNCs. MNCs obtained by density-gradient
separation were labeled with biotinylated JL1 mAb and SA-cychrome,
followed by staining with CD45-FITC and CD33-PE. Each lineage cell
cluster was painted on the CD45 versus side-scatter plot
and JL1 expression was compared. Dashed lines represent
isotype control levels for each population. R5, promonocytes and
monocytes; R6, promyelocytes, myelocytes, and metamyelocytes; R7, band
forms.
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JL1 Expression in CD34+ Cells of Human BM and CB
The proportion of JL1+ cells showed a great
interdonor variation (5 to 50%) in the early precursor compartment,
and was remarkably reduced in CB MNCs (1 to 10%) (data not shown). We
correlated JL1 reactivity with the expression of CD34, along with those
of AC133, CD38, CD10, CD33, and CD71 to allow identification of
noncommitted and various lineage-committed progenitor cells (Figure 2)
. Pluripotent stem cells were defined
as AC133+CD34+ or
CD38-/dimCD34+ cells in BM
or CB,26-30
and they did not express JL1 molecules at
all. In addition, JL1 was not expressed on
CD34+CD33+ cells that
contain virtually all colony-forming cells such as progenitor cells
capable of forming granulocytes, erythrocytes, monocytes,
megakaryocytes (CFU-GEMM), CFU-GM, and burst-forming unit erythrocytes
(Figure 2B)
.
CD34+CD71bright
erythroid-committed progenitor cells were also JL1-negative (Figure 2B)
. In contrast, as shown in Figure 2B
, the expression of JL1 antigen
was observed on the majority of lymphoid-committed
CD10+CD34+ precursors.

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Figure 2. The expression of JL1 molecules on CD34+ BM progenitor
cells. BM cells were labeled with biotinylated JL1 mAb and SA-cychrome,
followed by staining with CD34-FITC in combination with CD38-PE,
AC133-PE, CD10-PE, CD33-PE, or CD71-PE, respectively. CD34+
cells were gated (R1;
A) and JL1 expression in R1 gate was
compared on each of the progenitor cells
(B). A
square indicates CD71bright cell
population.
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The expression profile of the JL1 molecule in
CD34+ CB cells was almost same as that in BM
cells. However, less CD34+ cells were
JL1-positive as compared with that in BM cells (data not shown), and
these results are directly attributed to the fact that there are less
AC133-CD34+ cells in CB
MNCs. Therefore, these data indicate that JL1 expression is restricted
to only lymphoid precursor cells among the CD34+
BM or CB MNCs.
JL1 Expression and Myeloid Differentiation in Human BM
Because the cells in the myelomonocytic lineage showed a
heterogeneous pattern of JL1 expression, BM cells of myeloid-lineage
were enriched by G-CSF administration31
and they were
subdivided on the basis of CD33 and CD45 expression
intensities.32,33
CD33 positivity is strong on
promonocytes and monocytes (R5 in Figure 3
); median on promyelocytes, myelocytes,
and metamyelocytes (R6); and dim on band forms (R7).
CD33med promyelocytes, myelocytes, and
metamyelocytes showed none or only dim expression of JL1. Most
remarkably, the CD33dim band forms expressed JL1
at high levels, whereas mature granulocytes were completely
JL1-negative (data not shown). JL1 was also expressed on proportions of
CD33bright promonocytes, whereas peripheral
monocytes did not express JL1 antigen (data not shown).
JL1 Expression and B-Cell Differentiation in Human BM
The coordinate expression of the markers such as CD34, CD19, CD20,
and CD45RA has been exploited to characterize the developmental pathway
of B lymphopoiesis in BM, and the development of B cell precursors
could be divided into three major stages.34,35
To
investigate the relationship between the expression of JL1 molecule and
B cell development, cells of lymphoid and precursor-rich regions (R1
and R3 gate in Figure 1
) were only analyzed, and mAbs against CD19 and
surface-IgM (sIgM) were included in the staining protocols.
As shown in Figure 4
, at least three
major stages of B cell differentiation could be identified. The
earliest B-lineage cells are characterized by their expression of CD34
and CD19, and these
CD34+CD19+ cells showed
a high level of JL1 expression. The next stage B cell precursors,
characterized by the loss of CD34 expression, weak CD10 expression, and
intermediate CD45RA density (CD45RAint) on their
surfaces, can be subdivided into two subsets,
CD20-/dimsIgM- cells and
CD20highsIgM+ cells
according to the expression patterns of CD20 and sIgM. The most
mature B cell precursors are
CD20highsIgM+ cells with
CD19+CD10-
immunophenotype. Although JL1 antigen was detected on
CD20-/dim or sIgM-
lymphoblasts, it was no longer observed on
CD20high or sIgM+ cells.
Therefore, these results revealed that JL1 antigen appeared from the
earliest CD34+CD10+
lymphoid precursor cells and disappeared in the
CD20highsIgM+ stage of B
cell development.

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Figure 4. Three-color cytometric analysis of the JL1 expression of B-lineage
cells in BM MNCs. BM cells were labeled with biotinylated JL1 mAb and
SA-cychrome, followed by staining with CD34-FITC and CD19-PE, or
CD19-FITC in the combination with CD20-PE and IgM-PE, respectively.
Dashed lines represent isotype control levels for each of
the colored populations.
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JL1 Expression and T Cell Differentiation in Human Thymus
Because T cell development in human thymus proceeds along the
sequential acquisition and loss of the antigens such as CD34, CD1a,
CD3, CD4, and CD8, their expression pattern has been used to assess the
differentiation pathway of T lymphocytes (Figure 5)
.36
When JL1 expression
was analyzed for T-cell differentiation stage, the expression of JL1
was detected from the earliest
CD34+CD1a-CD3-
thymic precursor cells to mature single-positive medullary thymocytes
through the double-positive
CD4+CD8+ thymocytes (Figure 5, A and B)
. Most remarkably, the JL1 expression disappeared after CD1a
down-regulation in single-positive CD3high
CD4+ or CD3high
CD8+ thymocytes (Figure 5C)
.
CD1ahigh CD4+
CD8+ CD3-/low immature
cortical thymocytes displayed the highest JL1 density on their surfaces
among all leukocytes (Figure 5B)
. In addition, a subpopulation of
CD3-CD4-CD8-
thymocytes did not express JL1 antigen and this subset included
virtually all of the CD56+ NK cells (data not
shown).

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Figure 5. Three-color flow cytometric analysis of the JL1 expression in human
thymocytes. Thymocytes were labeled with biotinylated JL1 mAb and
SA-cychrome, followed by staining with CD34-FITC and CD3-PE
(A), or
CD8-FITC and CD4-PE
(B), or
CD1a-FITC and CD3-PE
(C).
Dashed lines represent isotype control levels for each of
the colored populations.
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JL1 Expression in Leukemia
As summarized in Table 1
, JL1
antigen was expressed on more than 20% of blast cells in 181 (87.0%)
of 208 leukemia cases and was effective for the detection of leukemias
regardless of the phenotype. However, in sIg+
non-T-ALL, JL1 positivities were significantly lower than the other
subtypes, which is in accordance with the JL1 expression pattern in BM.
JL1 positivity was slightly higher than CD34 positivity (76.4%) in all
types of leukemia, and this difference is attributed to higher
positivity of JL1 antigen in non-T-ALL (P =
0.027). No statistically significant co-relationship was observed
between expression of JL1 and that of CD34 in leukemia. Most of the
JL1-positive leukemias, including AML, however, expressed CD34
molecules. Furthermore, either JL1 or CD34 was expressed in most of
leukemia cases tested, indicating that flow cytometric analysis using
both anti-JL1 and anti-CD34 mAbs might be able to detect almost all
types of leukemia.
 |
Discussion
|
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JL1 was discovered during the development of mAbs recognizing
human thymocyte-specific antigens.17
JL1 is detectable on
cortical thymocytes but not on peripheral lymphocytes. In earlier
studies using unfractionated human BM, subsets of JL1-positive cells
were not readily detected.18
In the present study, we
re-examined the level of the expression of JL1 antigen on human
leukocytes in BM, CB, and thymus using a multiparameter flow cytometric
analysis, to reveal the level of its expression in
CD34+ and other lineage-committed precursor
cells. Especially, immunostaining was performed in a
biotin-streptavidin complex cychrome system to increase the sensitivity
of the detection of JL1 antigen. In this study, we provide the evidence
that JL1 antigen is a novel differentiation antigen and its expression
is restricted to certain subsets of lymphoid and myeloid lineages and
not expressed on pluripotent stem cells in BM and CB.
Currently available antigen to identify the pluripotent and progenitor
cells in human BM is CD34.37
The
CD34+ population in BM, however, represents
heterogeneous cell subsets including erythroid-, lymphoid-, or
monomyeloid-committed cells. CD34+ cells,
therefore, were subject to further analysis on the basis of AC133
expression. The CD34+
AC133+ population is presently classified as
pluripotent cells containing majority of the CFU-GM, a proportion of
the CFU-Mix, and a minor population of burst-forming unit erythrocytes,
whereas the remaining progenitor cells are included in
CD34+ AC133-
population.26
Interestingly, we found that expression of
JL1 was completely absent on CD34+
AC133+ cells, whereas one-third of
CD34+ AC133- cells were
positive for JL1 antigen (Figure 2)
. These data indicate that JL1
antigen is expressed on some progenitor cells but not on pluripotent
stem cells or on the earliest stages of myelomonocytic and erythroid
lineages. In addition, CD34+
CD38- cells that have been known to be
nonlineage-committed progenitors29
did not express JL1
antigen, confirming that JL1 is not expressed on pluripotent
hematopoietic stem cells.
For further analysis of the CD34+
AC133- population to examine the expression
patterns of JL1 molecule in terms of other surface markers in detail,
the BM blasts were stained with CD34 and lineage-specific markers
(Figure 2)
. CD34+CD33+
cells contained all colony-forming cells such as CFU-GEMM, CFU-GM, and
burst-forming unit erythrocytes except lymphoid progenitors. The
lymphoid- and erythroid-committed progenitor cells are defined with
high expression levels of CD10 and CD71, respectively.26
Whereas JL1 antigen appeared to be expressed on most of
CD34+ CD10+ lymphoid
precursors, CD34+ CD33+
cells and CD34+ CD71bright
erythroid-committed cells were all JL1-negative (Figure 2)
. Therefore,
the JL1- fraction of the
CD34+ AC133- population
consists of CD34+CD33+
cells, and all lymphoid precursors are JL1-positive.
As CD34+ CD10+
population includes CD34+
CD10+
CD19-CD7+ early T-lineage
cells, the lymphoid-lineage cells can be further divided into T and B
cell lineages in terms of CD19 expression.38
In B lineage
cells, the highest JL1 expression was seen in
CD34+ CD19+ cells and a
significant reduction of JL1 expression had a inverse relationship with
the expression levels of CD20 and sIgM at later stages. Similarly, it
was observed that JL1 antigen was expressed from the earliest
CD34+CD1a-CD3-
thymic precursors to some of the mature single-positive medullary
thymocytes during T cell development. Collectively, JL1 is likely to be
firstly expressed from common lymphoid progenitors and widely
distributed during lymphoid ontogenesis, and to be down-regulated at
the time of the final maturation process because JL1 is not expressed
on peripheral mature T or B cells.17
These suggest a
possible role of the down-regulation of JL1 molecule in the completion
of lymphocyte maturation.
In contrast to its expression in early developmental stages of lymphoid
lineage, several interesting patterns of JL1 expression were observed
in myelomonocytic lineage cells (Figure 3)
. The
CD33dim band forms expressed JL1 at high levels,
whereas the CD33med promyelocytes, myelocytes,
and metamyelocytes showed none or dim expression (Figure 3)
.
CD33high promonocytes and maturing monocytes also
showed low levels of JL1 expression. These findings, together with the
fact that JL1 is not expressed on mature peripheral monocytes or
granulocytes,17
suggest that JL1 antigen is expressed
during the later maturation process in the case of myelomonocytic
hematopoiesis.
Taken together, these results showed that JL1 antigen is specifically
expressed at the earlier stages of B and T cell lineages as well as at
the later stage of myelomonocytic cells in BM but not on pluripotent
stem cells or not on mature peripheral blood cells (Figure 6)
. Most remarkably, despite the
restricted pattern in its tissue distribution, anti-JL1 mAb recognizes
various types of acute leukemias (Table 1)
.18
Therefore,
it is likely that JL1 antigen possesses similar characteristics with
the CD34 molecule, in that both molecules are expressed within a narrow
range of differentiation during hematopoiesis and successfully detect
leukemias on the other hand. This finding led us to suggest that JL1
can be applied as an alternative of CD34 in the diagnosis of leukemia,
which is currently known to be the most valuable marker antigen in
clinical application for the diagnosis and subclassification of
leukemia.37
It is also important to note that JL1 and CD34
antigens were co-expressed in 87.9% of AML. This correlation implies
the possibility that this peculiar immunophenotype of AML might
be useful for monitoring minimal residual disease after treatment. The
current strategy of monitoring minimal residual disease by
immunological methods takes advantage of the ectopically co-expressing
leukocyte markers on malignant cells, which is not observed in
normal BM or PB cells. In this respect, JL1 antigen seems to fit well
for this immunophenotypic marker because of the JL1 negativity on
normal CD34+CD33+ BM cells.
Such phenotypes can be identified by double- or triple-color staining
techniques performed with mAbs conjugated to different fluorochromes.

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Figure 6. Expression pattern of JL1 antigen during hematopoiesis. Filled
circle represents JL1-expressing populations in BM or thymus, and
the degree of its darkness reflects the levels of expression of JL1
molecule.
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Restricted expression of CD34 antigen on hematopoietic stem/precursor
cells makes the anti-CD34 mAb useful for the quantification and
purification of stem/progenitor cells.37
Anti-CD34 mAb,
however, could not be used for immunotherapy of leukemia, because CD34
is expressed on normal vascular endothelial cells as well as on
pluripotent stem cells albeit its high expression in leukemia cells. In
contrast, JL1 is expressed on various leukemias but not on
hematopoietic stem cells or nonhematopoietic tissues. In addition, we
recently developed gelonin-conjugated anti-JL1 immunotoxin, which was
able to dramatically inhibit the proliferation of in vitro
cultured leukemia cells (Bae YM, Shin YK, Park SH, Chung J, Kim SH, Lee
I-S, Lee KM, Choi EY, Jung KC, Kim HS, Kim CW, Song HG, manuscript
submitted for publication). Therefore, all these findings suggest that
JL1 immunotoxin can be useful as a potential candidate for
immunotherapy of acute leukemia with negligible damage to normal
hematopoietic stem cells.
In this article, we described the expression profile of JL1 antigen on
human leukocytes in BM, CB, and thymus in detail. JL1 antigen was
expressed in a subpopulation of limited stages during hematopoietic
differentiation process, including early lymphoid precursors and
maturing myelomonocytic-lineage cells of the late stage. We also
demonstrated that JL1 is not expressed on normal hematopoietic
pluripotent stem cells. This unique distribution of JL1 antigen further
supports our previous suggestion that anti-JL1 mAb might be a good
candidate for diagnostic and therapeutic trials of acute leukemia.
 |
Acknowledgements
|
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We thank E. K. Kim (Seoul National University Hospital,
Seoul, Korea) and S. K. Chung (Keimyung University Hospital,
Taegu, Korea) for their helpful technical support.
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Footnotes
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Address reprint requests to Seong Hoe Park, Dept. of Pathology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 28 Yongon-dong, Chongno-gu, Seoul 110-799, Korea. E-mail: pshoe{at}plaza.snu.ac.kr
Supported by the 1999 BK21 project for Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmacy, and the 99' DiNonA Inc. R&D Project, Suwon, Korea.
Accepted for publication December 21, 2000.
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