Abstract
The capacity of human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) to suppress in vitro immune responses was investigated.
PBL were incubated with Concanavalin A (Con A) (50 ug/ml) for 48 hours, washed in Hank's Balanced Salt Solution containing α-methyl-D-mannoside (5 mg/ml), and subsequently added at a 1:1 ratio to cultures of normal untreated lymphocytes. Con A treated cells suppressed the proliferative response of untreated lymphocytes to mitogens (phytohemagglutinin, Con A), antigens (tetanus toxoid) and alloantigens (one-way mixed lymphocyte culture), as measured by 3H-thymidine incorporation into DNA. Con A treated cells also suppressed pokeweed mitogen induced immunoglobulin production in vitro by normal lymphocytes, as measured by radio-immunoassay.
Con A treated cells lost their suppressor activity following treatment with mitomycin C (50 ug/ml) or X-irradiation (> 500 RADS). It was shown that the Con A activated suppressor cell was a T cell which was nylon nonadherent and which bore surface receptors for histamine. Treatment of PBL or of T cells with antisera to B cell alloantigens (Ia like antisera) either before or after activation with Con A did not interfere with the suppressor activity of these cells.
Assay of suppressor activity of Con A treated PBL could be helpful in the study of immunodeficiency diseases, graft-versushost disease, autoimmune diseases and atopic states.
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Fineman, S., Mudaw-War, F. & Geha, R. 696 IDENTIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF HUMAN SUPPRESSOR LYMPHOCYTES. Pediatr Res 12 (Suppl 4), 479 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197804001-00701
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197804001-00701