Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Immunology logoLink to Immunology
. 1980 Nov;41(3):535–539.

Antibody-independent complement activation by a subpopulation of mitogen-induced human T lymphoblasts.

M J Martin, J Vega, C Gutiérrez
PMCID: PMC1458121  PMID: 7007209

Abstract

A study was made of the complement activation (CA) capacity of human T lymphoblasts obtained in vitro by PHA stimulation of highly purified T cells. The CA was studied by immunofluorescent detection of the C3 fragments deposited onto the cell membrane following incubation in autologous normal human serum (NHS). Whereas resting T cells did not stain, a mean of 12% of the blast cells were positive for monospecific anti-human C3 fluorescent serum. The possible mechanism through which C3 was deposited on the cell membrane may be a consequence of CA, because complement membrane fluorescence (CMF) was abolished by chelation of divalent cations with EDTA, complement inactivation by heating or incubation at low temperature. This reaction appears to occur in the absence of antibodies, because similar results were found when human agammaglobulinaemic serum was used as the complement source. The addition of ethyleneglycolbis-(aminoethylether)-tetraacetate (EGTA), supplemented with MgCl2 to the NHS failed to abolish the fluorescence, indicating that the alternative pathway was involved in the phenomenon. It is likely that the capacity to activate complement may distinguish a functional subpopulation of human T lymphoblasts.

Full text

PDF
535

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bitter-Suermann D., Hadding U., Schorlemmer H. U., Limbert M., Dierich M., Dukor P. Activation by some T-independent antigens and B cell mitogens of the alternative pathway of the complement system. J Immunol. 1975 Aug;115(2):425–430. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Budzko D. B., Kierszenbaum F., Waksman B. H. Cytotoxic effects of normal sera on lymphoid cells. III. Selective killing of mouse T cells by normal guinea pig serum. J Immunol. 1977 Aug;119(2):381–386. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Budzko D. B., Lachmann P. J., McConnell I. Activation of the alternative complement pathway by lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from patients with Burkitt's lymphoma and infectious mononucleosis. Cell Immunol. 1976 Mar 1;22(1):98–109. doi: 10.1016/0008-8749(76)90011-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Ghebrehiwet B., Medicus R. G., Müller-Eberhard H. J. Potentiation of antiboty-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity by target cell-bound C3b. J Immunol. 1979 Sep;123(3):1285–1288. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Gutiérrez C., Vega J., Kreisler M. Antibody-independent activation of complement by human peripheral B lymphocytes. Eur J Immunol. 1979 Jan;9(1):72–76. doi: 10.1002/eji.1830090115. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hughes-Jones N. C., Gardner B., Rowlands J. Activation of human complement by glutaraldehyde-treated red cells. Nature. 1977 Dec 15;270(5638):613–614. doi: 10.1038/270613a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Kierszenbaum F., Budzko D. B. Identification and characterization of a new subset of rat T lymphocytes. J Immunol. 1978 Jul;121(1):166–171. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Linder E., Lehto V. P., Stenman S. Activation of complement by cytoskeletal intermediate filaments. Nature. 1979 Mar 8;278(5700):176–178. doi: 10.1038/278176a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. McConnell I., Klein G., Lint T. F., Lachmann P. J. Activation of the alternative complement pathway by human B cell lymphoma lines is associated with Epstein-Barr virus transformation of the cells. Eur J Immunol. 1978 Jul;8(7):453–458. doi: 10.1002/eji.1830080702. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Okada H., Baba T. Rosette formation of human erythrocytes on cultured cells of tumour origin and activation of complement by cell membrane. Nature. 1974 Apr 5;248(448):521–522. doi: 10.1038/248521a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Papamichail M., Gutierrez C., Holborow E. J. The use of nylon fibre as a method of separating human lymphocyte subpopulations. J Immunol Methods. 1976;11(3-4):225–229. doi: 10.1016/0022-1759(76)90115-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Pinckard R. N., Olson M. S., Kelley R. E., DeHeer D. H., Palmer J. D., O'Rourke R. A., Goldfein S. Antibody-independent activation of human C1 after interaction with heart subcellular membranes. J Immunol. 1973 May;110(5):1376–1382. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Platts-Mills T. A., Ishizaka K. Activation of the alternate pathway of human complements by rabbit cells. J Immunol. 1974 Jul;113(1):348–358. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Shearer W. T., Atkinson J. P., Frank M. M., Parker C. W. Humoral immunostimulation. IV. Role of complement. J Exp Med. 1975 Apr 1;141(4):736–752. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Shimbo T., Yata J., Okada H. Nonspecific activation of complement by leukemic cells. Int J Cancer. 1978 Oct 15;22(4):422–425. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910220409. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Theofilopoulos A. N., Perrin L. H. Lysis of human cultured lymphoblastoid cells by cell-induced activation of the properdin pathway. Science. 1977 Mar 4;195(4281):878–880. doi: 10.1126/science.402691. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Immunology are provided here courtesy of British Society for Immunology

RESOURCES