The Journal of Immunology, Vol 146, Issue 1 327-331, Copyright © 1991 by American Association of Immunologists

ARTICLES

The primary B cell response to the O/core region of bacterial lipopolysaccharide is restricted to the Ly-1 lineage

SD Su, MM Ward, MA Apicella and RE Ward
Department of Molecular Immunology, Roswell Park Memorial Institute (a unit of New York State Department of Health), Buffalo 14263.

Experiments were performed to test the hypothesis that Ly-1 B cells respond to antigenic challenge with LPS from gram-negative bacteria. To perform these experiments, the splenic fragment culture system for the study of B cell precursors was used. We found that a significant number of anti-O/core, but not anti-lipid A, precursors expressed the lambda L chain. A restriction of the anti-LPS response to Ly-1 B cells was tested using a Ly-1 depletion protocol. We found that the anti-O/core antibody response was restricted to the Ly-1 B cell lineage. In contrast, conventional B cells, not Ly-1 B cells, respond to an antigenic challenge with lipid A. Our results further support the idea that the Ly-1 B cell lineage serves a direct role in protecting against certain bacterial infections.