Surface markers of cloned human T cells with helper or suppressor activity on pokeweed mitogen-driven B cell differentiation
✍ Scribed by Maria Cristina Mingari; Giovanni Melioli; Alessandro Moretta; Giuseppe Pantaleo; Lorenzo Moretta
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1982
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 445 KB
- Volume
- 12
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0014-2980
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Human spleen T cells stimulated with pokeweed mitogen (PWM) were cloned under limiting conditions in microculture systems using interleukin 2 and irradiated autologous cells. Clones were screened for helper or suppressor activity on PWM‐dependent B cell differentiation by adding cell aliquots to either isolated B cells and PWM or to mixtures of T and B cells and PWM. Out of 97 clones tested, 14 promoted intense B cell differentiation, as assessed by measurements of secreted IgG, and 6 strongly inhibited B cell maturation induced by spleen T cells.
All the selected clones maintained their original activity after shortterm clonal expansion; in addition, a similar (helper or suppressor) effect was detected when the total number of plasma cells per well was evaluated. Suppressor clones had no cytolytic activity on autologous T and B cell blasts, K562 cells or antibody‐coated L 1210 mouse cells. Nine helper and 6 suppressor clones were analyzed for a battery of surface markers. All the clones were E rosette‐positive and expressed HLA‐DR (Ia) antigens. Fcμ eptor was present on a single helper clone, whereas Fcγ receptor was expressed on a suppressor clone only. All but two clones expressed the OKT4^+^/ OKT8^−^, a single suppressor clone was OKT8^+^/OKT4^−^, whereas coexpression of OKT4 and OKT8 antigens was detected in one helper clone. Thus, the claim that helper T cells are OKT4+/OKT8^−^ and suppressor T cells are OKT4^−^/OKT8^+^ is not supported by the analysis of their phenotype at the clonal level.