Spleen cells of a patient with hairy cell leukemia
Alternative Synonym:
CD37||TSPAN26
Recognizes a protein of 33-55kDa, identified as CD37 (Workshop V, Code CD37.7). CD37 is strongly expressed on normal and neoplastic mature (sIg+) B-lymphocytes. In B-cell ontogeny, CD37 appears after the pre-B-cell stage, is maintained during peripheral B-cell development and is lost upon terminal differentiation into plasma cells.1 CD37 is also present, at low densities, on resting and activated T cells, neutrophils, monocytes, and some myelomonocytic leukemia cells. It is absent from platelets, erythrocytes. CD37 is a member of a family of tetraspan transmembrane proteins, including CD9, CD53, CD63, CD81, and CD82. It associates other tetraspan transmembrane proteins and MHC class II molecules to form a large complex at the surface of B cells and play a role in signal transduction. CD37 is a valuable and stable marker for peripheral mature B-cells and corresponding malignancies like B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL), hairy cell leukemia (HCL), and all types of B-cell non-Hodgkin& lymphoma (B-NHL).
