B lymphocytes in humans express ZAP-70 when activated in vivo

ZAP-70 is a protein tyrosine kinase initially found in T and NK cells. Recently, this important signaling element was detected in leukemic B cells from a subgroup of patients with B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL). In this study, ZAP-70 was detected in normal B cells from human tonsils, but not from peripheral blood. The cDNA sequence of B cell ZAP-70 was the same as that in T cells. Germinal center B cells and plasma cells had a substantial proportion of ZAP-70 ⁺ cells, while memory and follicular mantle B cells, which contain low numbers of activated B cells, expressed relatively little ZAP-70. A cell fraction of IgD ⁺, CD38 ⁺ B cells, which are comprised of many in vivo activated B cells, exhibited the highest levels of ZAP-70. Density gradient fractionation of tonsil B cells confirmed that ZAP-70 was not expressed by resting B cells, but was expressed by buoyant, in vivo activated B cells. In these B cells, the expression of ZAP-70 correlated with that of CD38 and not with that of CD5, a hallmark of B-CLL cells. B-CLL cells are activated cells and their ZAP-70 expression reflects a normal property of activated B cells populations rather than a neoplastic aberration.