Faculty Bibliography

A mouse myeloma cell line, 45.6.3, produces an IgG2b immunoglobulin (Ig) with 2 carbohydrate attachment sites on the heavy chains. One site is in the CH2 domain and the other in the VH region. The oligosaccharides at each site have different structures. The ratio of radioactive glucosamine incorporated in the VH compared with the CH2 oligosaccharide is approximately 1 to 3. In an attempt to understand this observation further, variant cell lines derived from 45.6.3 were isolated and their Ig were characterized. A ricin-resistant line, R4R1.5, has the same 2 attachment sites as the wild type, but the ratio of radioactive glucosamine in VH compared with CH2 was 1:1 and not 1:3 as in the wild type. This alteration is most probably due to cellular factors, since the Ig protein is unchanged. The M3.11 cell line produces an Ig with a polypeptide deletion involving the CH3 domain. In this Ig, a 3rd carbohydrate attachment site can be demonstrated. The percentage of radioactivity glucosamine in the CH2 domain compared with the total Ig is about 25% instead of 75% as in the wild type. These results suggest that the extent of glycosylation of different sites on Ig can be affected by both cellular factors and structural changes in the Ig protein.

The concentration of cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP) in 16 cerebrospinal fluid samples from eight patients with bacterial meningitis due to several different organisms was determined. An age- and sex-matched control group of 12 patients with a variety of acute, noninfectious systemic and neurological diseases was also examined. To quantitate the amount of cAMP, a new, improved radioimmunoassay was used with the ability to measure 2.5 X 10(-15) mol of cAMP. The mean concentration of cAMP in the cerebrospinal fluid from patients with meningitis was 0.05 nM, and from patients in the control group it was 1.18 nM. The difference between these two values is statistically significant. The decreased cAMP concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid from patients with bacterial meningitis did not seem to be secondary to metabolism by bacteria or leukocytes, increased enzymatic degradation within the cerebrospinal fluid, or an artifact introduced by the collection and storage procedure. Since the concentration of cAMP in the cerebrospinal fluid is normally found to be within narrow limits and probably reflects intracellular cAMP levels, the results described in this study suggest that interference with cAMP metabolism in central nervous system tissue occurs in bacterial meningitis. This finding seems to be independent of the causative organism and might explain the pathogenesis of selected, neurological manifestations of this disease.

Two mutant cell lines derived from the MPC-11 mouse myeloma synthesize immunoglobulin with abnormal heavy chains and normal light chains. The defective heavy chains have molecular weights of 38,000-42,000 (M3.11) and 50,000 daltons (ICR 11.19) as compared to 55,000 daltons of the wild-type. The glycosylation of the defective heavy chains demostrated several unusual features: first, 30-50% of the M3.11 heavy chain contained no carbonydrate, while 100% of the wildtype and ICR 11.19 heavy chains were glycosylated; second, the glycopeptides of the M3.11 heavy chains revealed an altered gel filtration pattern when compared with the wild-type; and third, digestion with an endoglycosidase indicated that the heterogeneity of the wild-type and M3.11 glycopeptides involved structural changes in the core region of the oligosaccharide. Examination of two other glycoproteins (the major histocompatibility complex antigens) in these cell lines showed that in M3.11, the H-2D but not the H-2K product was abnormally glycosylated and contained a smaller glycopeptide. However, in a subclone of M3.11 that had lost the ability to produce immunoglobulin heavy chains, the H-2D glycopeptide had returned to wild-type size. We concluded from these studies that the defective M3.11 immunoglobulin heavy chain interfered both with its own glycosylation and the glycosylation of another protein, H-2D.

Multiple myeloma raises a number of puzzling questions about the production of immunoglobulins and the malignant transformation of lymphoid cells. Some of these questions can be approached by studying mouse plasmacytomas and by genetic and biochemical studies of mouse myeloma cells in culture. The synthesis, assembly, glycosylation, and secretion of immunoglobulin has been analyzed in detail using the mouse myeloma system. The development of a technique that detects variants in clones of cultured mouse myeloma cells has led to the demonstration of a unique genetic instability in these cells. Based on these results a model is presented to explain the high frequency of ligh-chain producing (Bence Jones) myelomas in patients. Finally, mutant cell lines have been recovered which produce defective immunoglobulins similar to those found in heavy-chain disease and some other lymphoproliferative disorders.