Reconstitution of severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice with human lymphocytes has recently allowed the elucidation of abnormalities of immune responses in various immunological disorders. In the present study, mononuclear cells (MNC) from neonatal cord blood and adult peripheral blood were intraperitoneally injected into SCID mice to examine induction of human Ig in respective mice recipients. Human IgG was consistently detected in the serum of SCID transferred with adult MNC, but only a few SCID recipients of cord blood MNC showed detectable but low levels of IgG in the serum. The combination experiments of isolated B and T cells disclosed that some interactions between B and T cells might be necessary for IgG production in transferred SCID mice. Notably, transfer of cord blood B cells with adult but not cord blood T cells resulted in efficient induction of IgG, associated with a change in subclass distribution. The results suggest that inability of neonatal B cells to produce IgG can be overcome by transfer with adult mature T cells into SCID mice.
SUMMARY
It is accepted that human neonatal naive B cells produce mainly IgM in vivo as well as in vitro.Our previous work has demonstrated that i.p. injection of neonatal B cells together with adult mature T cells induces substantial levels of human IgG in the serum of SCID recipient mice. The present study was further attempted to determine the cellular components required for immunoglobulin production by neonatal B cells in SCID mice. When neonatal B and adult T cells were transferred into the SCID mice, human immunoglobulins, largely of IgG, were maximally detected in the serum around 6 weeks after a cell transfer. Depletion of CD4+ T cells from adult T cells resulted in undetectable levels of human immunoglobulin in the serum. By contrast, CD4+ T cell-enriched populations exhibited an enhancing effect on immunoglobulin production by neonatal B cells. Higher levels of immunoglobulin, including IgA and IgM, were detected in the peritoneal fluid than in the serum as early as 2 weeks after the cell transfer. Human T cells expressing activation antigens such as CD45RO and HLA-DR antigens were identified in the peritoneal lavages. These results suggest that neonatal naive B cells are able to differentiate into cells producing all classes of immunoglobulin in the presence of mature CD4+ T cells in a SCID mouse environment. The peritoneal cavity of SCID mice appears to provide a suitable place for immune responses by human cells, possibly in association with a certain xenogeneic reaction.
Cord blood mononuclear cells (MNC) were defective in their ability to produce interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) on stimulation with phytohemagglutinin (PHA) or recombinant interleukin 2, whereas cord MNC could induce comparable amounts of IFN-gamma with adult controls on stimulation with a streptococcal preparation, OK-432. Moreover, irradiation of cord MNC with 1,500 rad before PHA stimulation could restore the IFN-gamma production. Kinetic studies indicated that such augmentation of IFN-gamma production by irradiation was evident when cord MNC were irradiated before or by 12 hr of PHA-stimulated culture. But irradiation after 18 hr or more of PHA stimulation did not exert any significant augmentation on IFN-gamma production by cord MNC. It seemed most likely that the ability of IFN-gamma production is already mature at birth, but radiosensitive suppressor effectors on IFN-gamma production are activated within cord MNC at an early stage of PHA stimulation, resulting in poor IFN-gamma production by cord MNC. PHA-induced IFN-gamma production by OKT3+, OKT4+, and OKT8- cord cells were markedly enhanced by irradiation with 1,500 rad before the culture. Coculture experiments disclosed that cord OKT4+ cells, but not OKT4- cells, when prestimulated with PHA for 24 hr, exerted active suppression on PHA-induced IFN-gamma production by adult MNC in a dose-dependent manner. These results suggested that radiosensitive suppressor effectors on IFN-gamma production were induced within the OKT4+ T cell subset of cord MNC on PHA stimulation.
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