The Journal of Immunology, Vol 133, Issue 2 692-696, Copyright © 1984 by American Association of Immunologists

ARTICLES

Direct effects of a monoclonal B cell differentiation factor and of purified interleukin 1 on B cell differentiation

RJ Falkoff, JL Butler, CA Dinarello and AS Fauci

We have previously described the presence of factors in mixed lymphocyte culture supernatants that induce activated but not resting human B cells to secrete Ig. In the present study, we describe the effects of a B cell differentiation factor in the supernatant (SN) of a T-T hybridoma (clone 7D5). We find that it induces Ig secretion by human B cells in the absence of T cells or monocytes. It acts only on activated B cells, because small (resting) B cells isolated by centrifugal counterflow elutriation do not respond to it, whereas the same cells do develop into Ig-secreting cells if activated in culture with Staphylococcus aureus Cowan I before exposure to SN 7D5. By using class-specific reagents in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, we found SN 7D5 to result in the secretion of significant amounts of IgM, IgG, and IgA. We also studied the effects of highly purified interleukin 1 on this differentiation process. Interleukin 1 by itself failed to induce Ig secretion by activated B cells, and its presence was not required for the induction of Ig secretion by SN 7D5. However, interleukin 1 consistently synergized with SN 7D5 in inducing Ig secretion by purified B cells.