PMID: 376727May 1, 1979Paper

Antibody penetration into living cells. II. Anti-ribonucleoprotein IgG penetrates into Tgamma lymphocytes causing their deletion and the abrogation of suppressor function

The Journal of Immunology : Official Journal of the American Association of Immunologists
D Alarcón-SegoviaL Llorente

Abstract

We have previously shown that an anti-ribonucleoprotein (RNP) IgG can penetrate into live human mononuclear cells (MNC) having receptors for the Fc portion of IgG. Because T cells with such receptors (Tgamma cells) seem to behave as suppressor cells in immune regulation and because this suppressor function is diminished in diseases where antinuclear antibodies appear, we considered the possibility that antinuclear IgG antibody could penetrate Tgamma cells and affect them. Herein we show that fluorescein-labeled anti-RNP IgG can penetrate into Tgamma cells, enriched by either mitogenic stimulation or separation with a subpopulation of T cells with low affinity for sheep erythrocytes. Incubation of MNC with anti-RNP IgG before carrying out the separation procedures resulted in apparent loss of Tgamma cells at the end of separation. To confirm that deletion had actually occurred, we performed a cytotoxicity assay using 51Cr-labeled T cells. Anti-RNP IgG had a significantly higher cytotoxic effect that normal IgG on T cells, particularly on those with low affinity for sheep erythrocytes that include most Tgamma cells. Suppressor cell function studied in a system where it was expanded, by either 7-day culture or incubation with conc...Continue Reading

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