Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol 146, 1765-1772, Copyright © 1977 by Rockefeller University Press
T-cell regulation of human peripheral blood B-cells responsiveness
AJ Strelkauskas, BS Wilson, RT Callery, L Chess and SF Schlossman
We have investigated the influence of human T cells on the synthesis and
secretion of immunoglobulin by peripheral blood B cells. The plaque-
forming assay used, which identified the number of B cells secreting Ig, is
a short-term assay which requires no exogenous stimulation. We have shown
that the B-cell population alone contains fewer secreting cells than the
total lymphocyte population, and that T cells are required to achieve
maximal plaque-forming cell levels. Cycloheximide treatment of cells at
concentrations known to inhibit protein synthesis does not affect the
cooperative potential of these cells. Additionally, this cooperation effect
is markedly better among autologous mixtures of Ig- and Ig+ cells, than
among mixtures obtained from randomly selected individuals.