The pre-B cell receptor (pre-BCR) expressed during the early stages of B lymphocyte development is a heterodimer of immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) with surrogate light chain, which is an Ig-light-chain-like molecule composed of the non-covalently linked CD179b (λ5) and CD179a (VpreB) proteins. The pre-BCR is believed to control IgH repertoire selection and proliferation of differentiating B lymphocytes. The R3/VpreB antibody reacts with CD179a and pre-BCR in pre-B-cell lines, but not CD179b alone. It detects pre-BCR on the surface of early B-lineage cell lines. R3/VpreB antibody has been reported to detect both cell-surface and intracytoplasmic surrogate light chain in normal bone marrow. However, in CD179b-deficient (λ5[-/-]) bone marrow, R3 antibody can detect only intracytoplasmic CD179a. At the earliest stages of B chain associates with a complex of glycoproteins, including a nonclassical cadherin, which could be involved in selective adhesion events during B-lymphocyte development.
The antibody was conjugated to BD Horizon BUV615 which is part of the BD Horizon Brilliant™ Ultraviolet family of dyes. This dye is a tandem fluorochrome with an Ex Max near 350 nm and an Em Max near 615 nm. BD Horizon Brilliant BUV615 can be excited by the ultraviolet laser (355 nm) and detected with a 610/20 filter and a 595 nm LP. Due to the excitation of the acceptor dye by the blue/yellow-green laser line, there may be significant spillover into channels detecting PE-CF594 like emissions (eg, 610/20-nm filter).