The Journal of Immunology, Vol 140, Issue 5 1561-1565, Copyright © 1988 by American Association of Immunologists

ARTICLES

The AKR thymoma BW5147 is able to produce lymphokines when stimulated with calcium ionophore and phorbol ester

H Hagiwara, T Yokota, J Luh, F Lee, K Arai, N Arai and A Zlotnik
DNAX Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA 94304.

We produced the T cell hybridoma D9C1.12.17 by fusing an IL-4-producing T cell clone D9.1Hi with the AKR thymoma BW5147. The resulting hybridoma produced IL-2 as well as IL-4 even though none of the parental cells produced IL-2 after stimulation with Con A. The production of IL-2 was confirmed at the mRNA level by using an S1 nuclease protection assay. Further analysis indicated that Con A- induced IL-2 production was a common phenomenon among T cell hybridomas derived from this fusion. Although BW5147 does not produce detectable lymphokines after Con A stimulation, this line was able to produce IL- 2, granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor, and small amounts of IL-3 and IFN-gamma when stimulated with calcium ionophore and phorbol ester. The latter agents are thought to mimic the activating signal(s) delivered through the Ag:MHC TCR. This observation indicates that BW5147 has the ability to produce lymphokines but may lack component(s) which couple the extracellular signal to lymphokine production, and suggests that in T cell hybridomas, part of the spectrum of lymphokines produced may be contributed by BW5147.

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