Degree Name

PhD (Doctor of Philosophy)

Program

Biomedical Sciences

Date of Award

May 1982

Abstract

Human palatine tonsil lymphocytes, when compared to peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL), were in an activated state even though there was no in vitro stimulation. When these tonsil lymphocytes were cultured in the absence of serum and polyclonal mitogens or antigens, the supernatant fluid often inhibited the proliferative response of target PBL to con A. The extent of this suppression ranged from 22% to 84%, and target cell viability was 90% or greater. There was no evidence for the presence of immunoglobulins or (alpha)2-macroglobulin in whole supernatant fluids. The suppressor was partially denatured at 80(DEGREES)C and was rendered completely inactive upon exposure to 100(DEGREES)C for 5 min. It was trypsin sensitive, and had an apparent molecular weight of 100,000 or greater. The protein adhered strongly to DE-52 cellulose, and the most active material eluted with 0.4-0.6 M NaCl. The suppressor was active in the pH range 5.0 (+OR-) 0.6 as demonstrated by isoelectric focusing. Occasionally, supernatant fluids comprised material which augmented the expected response of con A stimulated PBL. The augmentor was 30,000 in molecular weight and was eluted from DE-52 cellulose in the 0.15-0.25 M NaCl range. Nearly all supernatant preparations tested contained a mitogenic substance which stimulated naive allogeneic human PBL without the necessity of co-stimulation by a mitogen. The mitogenic factor (MF) behaved in a dose dependent fashion and was evidently different from the augmentor since the MF stimulated PBL independently of lectin co-stimulation.

Document Type

Dissertation - unrestricted

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