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. 1974 Feb;71(2):512–516. doi: 10.1073/pnas.71.2.512

Mode of Action of a Supernatant Activity from T-Cell Cultures that Nonspecifically Stimulates the Humoral Immune Response

Philippa Hunter 1,*, J R Kettman 1,†
PMCID: PMC388037  PMID: 4273650

Abstract

The mode of action of “allogeneic supernatant” (the culture supernatant of a 24-hr mixedlymphocyte reaction), has been studied. This factor stimulates the response of spleen cell cultures depleted in thymus-derived lymphoid cells (T-cells) to antigens that elicit a thymus-dependent response. We used a limiting dilution analysis, in which the frequency and size of response of individual bone-marrow-derived lymphoid cells (B-cells) could be measured. In confirmation of other reports, the occurrence of B-cells responding to antigen under different conditions was shown to follow a Poisson distribution in mouse spleen cell suspensions. Allogeneic supernatant increased responses to thymus-dependent antigens, both by increasing the frequency of B-cells whose response is initiated and by increasing the numbers of antibody-forming cells obtained from each responding B-cell. Two fractions were obtained by dialysis of the supernatant. The nondialyzable fraction contained factors able to increase both the frequency of B-cells responding to sheep erythrocytes, and the size of the responding unit. The dialysate contained factors that were only able to increase the numbers of antibody-forming cells obtained per responding B-cell from B-cells whose response had already been initiated by antigen-specific T-cells.

Since the nondialyzable factors were active in the absence of detectable functional T-cells, it was concluded that these factors, produced by T-cells, might represent one mechanism whereby T-cells cooperate with B-cells in the initiation or development of a humoral immune response.

Keywords: Poisson distribution, responding B-cell frequency, clone size, dialysis

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Selected References

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

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