The Journal of Experimental Medicine

Bernard, A; Gelin, C; Raynal, B; Pham, D; Gosse, C; Boumsell, L

doi: N/Apmid: 6175720

Anti-D66 is a monoclonal antibody able to inhibit E-rosette formation of T cells both at 4 degrees C and at 37 degree C but that does not inhibit T cell rosette formation with neuraminidase or 2-amino-ethylisothiouronium bromide (AET)-pretreated E. As demonstrated by capping experiments, it defines an epitope, D66, that is directly involved in E-rosette formation. D66 is distinct from the epitope defined by 9.6 because 9.6, a previously defined "pan-T" monoclonal antibody, inhibits E(AET) rosette formation and because no cross-blocking occurred between both antibodies fixation. However, 9.6 and D66 are carried by the same molecule, as demonstrated by sequential immunoprecipitation assays performed on two different T cell lines. On the thymocyte surface, also, 9.6 and D66 are most probably carried by the same molecule, as indicated by cocapping and colysostripping experiments. D66 is present at higher densities on thymocytes and activated T cells than on peripheral blood T cells. Investigation of numerous T cell populations, both normal and malignant, showed a straightforward correlation between elevated D66 density and ability to form 37 degrees C stable E-rosettes. Neuraminidase treatment of thymocytes and peripheral blood lymphocytes forming E-rosettes unmasked a large fraction of D66 not readily accessible on their surface. These hidden D66 epitopes appear to be responsible for a surprising observation: the ability of anti-D66 to inhibit E-rosette formation could be totally reversed by fixation on anti-D66 of an antibody to mouse immunoglobulin or an Fab fragment anti-mouse immunoglobulin. This would induce microdisplacement with emergence of hidden D66, as documented by fluorometric studies. Finally, malignant T cells with a differentiative status of mature T cells, but forming no (or low numbers of) E-rosettes, could be induced both to display D66 and to form E-rosettes by neuraminidase treatment.

Pontes de Carvalho, L C; Templeman, J; Wick, G; Roitt, I M

doi: 10.1084/jem.155.5.1255pmid: 7069370

Neonatal thyroidectomy of Obese strain (OS) chickens showed that the spontaneous development of thyroid autoimmunity in these animals was fully dependent upon the presence of autoantigen, and could not be ascribed essentially to antigen-independent mechanisms such as polyclonal lymphocyte activation or innate distortions within the idiotype network. Similarly, removal of the gland in animals with established thyroiditis demonstrated the need for antigen to maintain the autoimmune response. Thyroglobulin from normal chickens induced autoantibodies in neonatally thyroidectomized OS birds, suggesting that an abnormality in the structure of this protein is not a prerequisite for the development of autoimmunity. This contention is supported by the finding that OS and normal thyroglobulin were immunochemically indistinguishable, whether compared using OS autoantibodies or rabbit anti-chicken thyroglobulin sera.

Asano, Y; Hodes, R J

doi: 10.1084/jem.155.5.1267pmid: 6175718

The present studies have been carried out to characterize the regulatory influences acting upon defined pathways of T cell-dependent B cell activation. In these studies, it was demonstrated that high concentrations of free carrier strongly inhibited the MHC-restricted in vitro T cell-dependent antibody responses of primed Lyb-5- B cells to the corresponding carrier-hapten conjugate. In contrast, these same concentrations of free carrier failed to inhibit the T cell dependent responses of Lyb-5+ B cells to the same antigen. The inhibition of Lyb-5- B cell responses by free carrier was shown to result from active suppression mediated by carrier-specific primed Lyt-1+2- T cells and to require the additional participation of unprimed Lyt-1-2+ T cells. The activation of this suppression was antigen-specific, but suppression once activated was antigen nonspecific in its effect. These findings thus demonstrate that distinct pathways of B cell activation can be independently regulated by T suppressor network influences, and that these pathways therefore constitute potentially independent components of the immune response to a given antigenic stimulus.

Ohmori, H; Yamamoto, I

doi: 10.1084/jem.155.5.1277pmid: 7040590

The mechanism of augmentation of the primary antibody response in vitro by 2-mercaptoethanol (2-ME) was investigated. By using cystine-free RPMI 1640 medium, it was demonstrated that cyst(e)ine was absolutely required for eliciting the following murine lymphocyte reactions: antibody response to sheep erythrocytes, proliferative response to concanavalin A or lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and polyclonal antibody response induced by LPS. The maximal antibody response was attained with 2.5-5 mM cysteine or half-cystine. The serial feeding of fresh cysteine markedly amplified its capacity to support antibody response particularly when cysteine concentration was suboptimal. Such an effect was not observed in the serial addition of cystine. On the other hand, the dose-response curve of cystine was dramatically shifted to lower concentrations by the addition of 2-ME (1 x 10(-5) M), which alone could not elicit the antibody response in the absence of cystine, nor could it augment furthermore the maximal response induced by 2.5 mM half-cystine. Commercially available RPMI 1640 medium contains 0.41 mM half-cystine, which proved to be a suboptimal concentration for eliciting the maximal response. 35S-cystine was incorporated into murine lymphocytes five to six times more slowly than 35S-cysteine. The rate of cystine uptake, however, was accelerated by 2.5-fold in the presence of 1 x 10(-5) M 2-ME. A close correlation was observed between dose-response profiles of 2-ME in augmenting the antibody response and the stimulation of cystine uptake. These results strongly suggest that one of the roles of 2-ME in augmenting the antibody response in vitro is to facilitate the use of cystine contained in RPMI 1640 medium only at a suboptimal concentration.

Nathan, CF; Klebanoff, SJ

doi: 10.1084/jem.155.5.1291pmid: 6802924

Eosinophil peroxidase (EPO), a cationic protein purified from horse blood, adhered to four different types of tumor cells, markedly potentiating their lysis by preformed or enzymatically generated H(2)0(2) (up to 76-fold, as assayed in serum-containing tissue culture medium without supplemental halide). Similarly, compared with uncoated tumor cells, EPO-coated tumor cells were up to 32 times more sensitive to lysis when incubated with macrophages or granulocytes whose respiratory burst was triggered by PMA. However, EPO-coated tumor cells were also readily lysed by bacillus Calmette- Guerin-activated macrophages in the absence of exogenous triggering agents. This spontaneous cytolysis was rapid (50 percent at 2 h) and potent (50 percent lysis at macrophage/tumor cell ratios of 1.5 to 4.6), and was observed with both a peroxide-sensitive tumor (TLX9) and a peroxide-resistant tumor (NK lymphoma). Under the conditions used, neither EPO alone nor macrophages alone were spontaneously cytolytic. Neither EPO nor EPO-coated tumor cells triggered a detectable increment in H(2)0(2) release from macrophages. Nonetheless, spontaneous macrophage-mediated cytolysis of EPO- coated tumor cells was completely inhibitable by catalase (50 percent inhibition, 23 U/ml), although not by heated catalase, indicating a requirement for H(2)0(2). Cytolysis was also completely inhibitable by azide (50 percent inhibition, 2.6 X 10 -5 M), indicating a requirement for enzymatic activity of EPO. Thus, a cytophilic peroxidase from eosinophils and H(2)0(2) spontaneously released from activated macrophages interacted synergistically in a physiologic medium to destroy tumor cells.

Yakura, H; Shen, F W; Bourcet, E; Boyse, E A

doi: 10.1084/jem.155.5.1309pmid: 6175719

The generation of plaque-forming cells (PFC) to T-dependent antigen, but not to T-independent antigen, is reduced in vitro by Lyb-2 antibody. Monoclonal Lyb-2 antibody, added to Mishell-Dutton cultures within the first 2 d, but not later, greatly reduces the generation of alpha-sheep erythrocyte (SRBC) PFC from T-depleted spleen cells whether help is provided in the form of intact T cells or as soluble factors contained in mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC) supernatants. Generation of alpha-SRBC PFC from purified B cells, assisted by soluble factors in MLC and macrophage (P388D.1 cell) supernatants, is similarly reduced by Lyb-2 antibody. The initial 2-d period, during which cultures are diminishingly sensitive to reduction of PFC generation by Lyb-2 antibody, is not affected by the time at which such soluble factors are added. Thus, Lyb-2 cell surface molecules evidently do not function as receptors for these differentiative signals. Reduction of PFC generation by Lyb-2 antibody is antigen dependent in the sense that reduction of the PFC response to one antigen (SRBC) does not affect subsequent generation of PFC to a second antigen (horse erythrocytes) from the same cell population. These findings accord with the view that the Lyb-2 molecule participates in a B cell differentiative phase, probably proliferative, which begins with binding of antigen and precedes the phase in which B cells become fully receptive to signals from T and other cells.

Berche, P A; North, R J

doi: 10.1084/jem.155.5.1334pmid: 6802925

The results of this study of allogeneic restriction of passively transferred delayed sensitivity to Listeria antigens serve to illustrate the complexity of in vivo models. They show that the H-2 restriction observed when delayed-type hypersensitivity was transferred between H-2-congenic strains was no more severe than the restriction observed when delayed-type hypersensitivity was transferred between parental and F1 mice and between different strains sharing the same H-2 haplotype. It is obvious that genes, in addition to those of the H-2 locus, can be responsible for allogeneic restriction in vivo.

Britz, J S; Askenase, P W; Ptak, W; Steinman, R M; Gershon, R K

doi: 10.1084/jem.155.5.1344pmid: 6461712

We have tested the ability of several types of trinitrophenyl (TNP)-labeled Ia+ cells to induce contact hypersensitivity (CS) after intravenous injection. Most labeled cell types (spleen cells, splenic macrophages, various types of peritoneal-exudate cells) not only fail to induce CS after this type of inoculation but, rather, activate T suppressor cells leading to specific immunological tolerance. Occasionally, some of these immunizing cells managed to bypass the T suppressor system and induced CS. In those cases the response was short-lived and could be blocked by concomitant injection of trinitrobenzelsulphonic acid (TNBS), a potent inducer of T suppressor cells. In sharp contrast to these results, TNP-labeled splenic dendritic cells and TNP-labeled peritoneal-exudate cells induced by complete Freund's adjuvant had the following distinctive features: (a) They were always able to sensitize when injected intravenously, and the degree of sensitization they produced was roughly equivalent to that achieved by cutaneous application of picryl chloride, the chemically reactive form of TNP. (b) The response they elicited was long lived (i.e., lasted for greater than 3 wk). (c) Their sensitizing capacity could not be blocked by the concomitant injection of TNBS. (d) They elicited a response that could be adoptively transferred to untreated, normal recipients. These results indicate that the type of cell that first presents antigen to the immune system plays an important, even essential, role in determining the strength and duration of the subsequent immune response. In particular, the results suggest that some special antigen-presenting cells can induce a response that is relatively resistant to host suppressor mechanisms. Evidence that they do so by activating contrasuppressor cells is discussed.

Chiao, J W; Andreeff, M; Freitag, W B; Arlin, Z

doi: 10.1084/jem.155.5.1357pmid: 6175721

Human leukemic cells were induced to proliferate and mature to macrophage-like cells in primary cultures supplemented with conditioned medium (CM) from phytohemagglutinin and alloantigen-stimulated normal T lymphocytes. Blast and promyelocyte-enriched preparations, isolated after depletion of adherent phagocytic cells and lymphoid cells from samples of myelogenous leukemia patients, were suspended in liquid cultures with 30% CM. Cell cycle analysis was performed throughout the course of induced cellular maturation. Within 24 h of exposure to CM, cells with macrophage-like morphology were identified among the developing adherent cells. Approximately 15-30% of the cells in culture suspensions also developed macrophage-like morphology and esterase reactivity with alpha-napthyl acetate after incubation for 2 d. The number of these nonproliferating cells increased and became predominant in the later culture period. Flow cytometric measurement of DNA content showed that these mature cells had the same aneuploid stemline as the undifferentiated leukemic cells, indicating that genetically abnormal leukemic cells can be induced to differentiate. Reduction in the total RNA content of the macrophage-like cells was also determined by flow cytometry. Reduction in RNA and development of adherent cells served as early markers of maturation, in addition to the later acquisition of complement receptors and phagocytic capacity. Cell cycle analysis showed that CM stimulated the proliferation of immature cells. This initial proliferation may precede intertwined events of proliferation and concurrent maturation of immature cells. Later in the culture period, cellular proliferation decreased, leading to termination of the cultures.

Arnold, E A; Katsnelson, I; Hoffman, G J

doi: 10.1084/jem.155.5.1370pmid: 7069371

We have found that in liquid cultures of spleen cells of adult Syrian hamsters of the F1D strain, the hematopoietic microenvironment is adequate to sustain proliferation of splenic stem cells for periods of greater than 4 mo, and permits granulocytic, monocytic, and megakaryocytic differentiation without secondary repopulation or addition of exogenous growth factors to the basic medium of RPMI 1640 plus 20% horse serum. Intimate topographical relations are established between spleen stromal cells and hematopoietic cell components of the culture is adherent "cell-producing" islets. Some of these islets are associated with multiple hematopoietic cell types such as myeloid, monocytic, and megakaryocytic cells. Other islets are associated with a single cell type such as megakaryocytes, which suggests a limited potential of some adherent stromal cells to direct the differentiation of precursor cells. Cultures of this type provide a simple and convenient model for investigation of the mechanisms controlling differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells, not only for granulocytic and monocytic cells, but for megakaryocytic cells as well.