Mapping cell surface antigens on mouse pre-B cell lines.

Characterization of cell surface molecules expressed by B cell precursors has been hampered by the inability to routinely assay such cells from freshly explanted normal lymphoid tissues. However, a large number of transformed pre-B cell clones have been isolated which presumably include those precursors recently entering the B cell lineage (obtained from fetal liver and more rarely from adult bone marrow) and extending to those clones which are poised to become surface Ig-positive B cells. In this report, we have quantitated expression of 10 different cell surface molecules, 5 of which bear special interest as B cell differentiation antigens, among a large panel of pre-B cell clones.