Faculty Bibliography

Production of interleukin 2 (IL-2) in mixed lymphocyte cultures of SJL/J lymph node (LN) and gamma-irradiated, syngeneic lymphoma cells of transplantable reticulum cell sarcoma (gamma-RCS) was abolished by pactamycin pretreatment of gamma-RCS. LN cells needed for this interaction were Lyt-2 T-cells, not adherent to Sephadex G-10. The effect of separation of T-cells and gamma-RCS after the first 24 hours of culture suggested that both components contributed to the IL-2 production. Exogenous IL-2, but not interleukin 1 (IL-1), restored the ability of pactamycin-treated gamma-RCS to induce syngeneic T-cell proliferation. The inability of T-cells from 'nonresponder' F1 hybrids of SJL to proliferate to gamma-RCS was not corrected by addition of IL-1 or IL-2. Interferon (IFN) production also required the presence of untreated gamma-RCS and LN cells, but it was dependent on a Sephadex G-10 and plastic adherent cell in LN. IFN-free supernatant of LN cells plus gamma-RCS induced IFN production in fresh normal lymphoid cells, suggesting a possible indirect induction of this lymphokine. In addition, unirradiated RCS cells (la+ cells) produced immune IFN over a period of 3 weeks in vitro, after which the cells lost their viability. Prolonged IL-2 production was not observed in these cultures. The possible biological importance of the lymphokine production during the exaggerated syngeneic mixed lymphocyte reactions induced by RCS cells is discussed.

Human T cell hybridomas were established by fusion of SH9 cells, the 6-thioguanine-resistant mutant line of human T lymphoma Hut 102-B2, with concanavalin A-stimulated human peripheral blood lymphocytes. Hybridoma line L38 produced a macrophage activating factor (MAF) with the ability to activate human peripheral blood monocytes to show enhanced cytotoxicity against human colon adenocarcinoma HT-29 cells in a 72-hr 125iododeoxyuridine-release assay. The L38 line was then cloned by the limiting dilution technique and two sublines, L38B and L38D, were found to produce high levels of MAF constitutively. Interferon activity was also detected in L38B and L38D supernatants. When interferon activity was neutralized with specific antiserum to purified human immune interferon (IFN-gamma), MAF activity was abrogated. To confirm that the MAF activity is indeed due to IFN-gamma, IFN-gamma was purified from the culture supernatant of another human T cell hybridoma, L265K2, a cell line known to produce high levels of IFN-gamma. Two highly purified IFN-gamma fractions with m.w. of 20,000 and 25,000, respectively, were obtained by NaDodSO4/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Similar fractions were obtained from IFN-gamma derived from human peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) cultures induced with 12-0-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) and phytohemagglutinin (PHA). In comparison, Escherichia coli-derived recombinant human IFN-gamma separated by SDS-PAGE yielded two major active fractions with m.w. of 17,000 and 34,000. With all three types of preparations, a close correlation was found between the presence of IFN-gamma activity demonstrable in an antiviral assay and MAF activity in individual fractions. Substantial quantitative differences were observed in the ability of various human IFN to activate monocytes. Although no MAF activity was detected with IFN-alpha and IFN-beta at concentrations up to 200 U/ml, both natural and recombinant IFN-gamma showed marked MAF activity at concentrations as low as 0.3 to 1 U/ml