Characterization of memory B cells from thymus and its impact for DLBCL classification

•A thymus memory B-cell compartment is compared with bone marrow memory B cells.•A tissue-specific gene expression profile is described for thymus memory B cells.•This profile is overrepresented in the primary mediastinal B-cell lymphomas.

The rare memory B cells in thymus (Thy) are considered the cells of origin for primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma. The objectives of the present study were to characterize the normal memory B-cell compartment in Thy and to support its association with primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma. Seven paired human tissue samples from Thy and sternum bone marrow (BM) were harvested during cardiac surgery. B-cell subsets were phenotyped by Euroflow standard and fluorescence-activated cell sorting for microarray analysis on the Human Exon 1.0 ST Arrays platform. Differentially expressed genes between Thy and BM memory B cells were identified and correlated with the molecular subclasses of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Within Thy, 4% (median; range 2%–14%) of the CD45+ hematopoietic cells were CD19+ B cells, with a major fraction being CD27+/CD38– memory B cells (median 80%, range 76%–93%). The BM contained 14% (median; range 3%–27%), of which only a minor fraction (median 5%, range 2%–10%) were memory B cells. Global gene expression analysis of the memory B-cell subsets from the two compartments identified 133 genes upregulated in Thy, including AICDA, REL, STAT1, TNF family, SLAMF1, CD80, and CD86. In addition, exons 4 and 5 in the 3′ end of AICDA were more highly expressed in Thy than in BM. The Thy memory B-cell gene profile was overexpressed in primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma compared with other diffuse large B-cell lymphoma subclasses. The present study describes a Thy memory B-cell subset and its gene profile correlated with primary mediastinal B-cell lymphomas, suggesting origin from Thy memory B cells.