CD Markers
CD79a


Last author update: 1 February 2002
Last staff update: 6 November 2023 (update in progress)

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PubMed Search: CD79a[title]

See Also: CD79b

Nat Pernick, M.D.
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Cite this page: Pernick N. CD79a. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/cdmarkerscd79a.html. Accessed November 29th, 2023.
Definition / general
  • Also called MB-1, B cell antigen receptor complex associated protein alpha-chain
  • Encodes Ig-alpha protein of the B cell antigen receptor; the receptor also includes Ig-beta protein (CD79b) and surface immunoglobulin
  • Expressed early in B cell differentiation (often positive when mature B cell markers are negative); also expressed in plasma cells
  • In AML, presence usually represents aberrant B cell antigen in leukemias of distinct myeloid linage, not biphenotypic differentiation (Cancer Genet Cytogenet 2005;163:62)
  • CLL patients have low B cell-IgM surface expression due to defects in glycosylation and folding in µ and CD79a chains (Blood 2005;105:2933)
  • Less specific than PAX5 for acute leukemia (Cancer Res 2004;64:7399)
  • OMIM #112205, Blood 1995;86:1453 (early study)
Uses by pathologists
Microscopic (histologic) images

Images hosted on other servers:

Follicular dendritic cell tumor (fig 14)

Lymphoplasmacyte rich meningioma



Leukemia / lymphoma:

Pro B acute lymphoid leukemia (Figure 1, bottom left)

Primary mediastinal B cell lymphoma (Figure 4)

T cell lymphoblastic leukemia (Figure 2, middle right)

t(8;21) myeloid leukemia (Figure 3, bottom right)

Positive staining - normal
  • B cells, plasma cells
Positive staining - disease
Negative staining
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Image 01 Image 02