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Research Article Free access | 10.1172/JCI109816
Division of Allergy, Department of Medicine, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Division of Immunology, Department of Medicine, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Find articles by Geha, R. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Division of Allergy, Department of Medicine, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Division of Immunology, Department of Medicine, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Find articles by Fruchter, L. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Division of Allergy, Department of Medicine, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Division of Immunology, Department of Medicine, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Find articles by Borel, Y. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Published June 1, 1980 - More info
The aim of these studies was to determine whether unresponsiveness to the main determinant of penicillin, benzylpenicilloyl, can be induced in human peripheral lymphocytes in vitro by conjugates of benzylpenicilloyl (BPO) autologous gamma globulin (HGG). Initially it was shown that conjugates of BPO-keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) elicited lymphocyte proliferation in the peripheral blood lymphocytes of six out of nine adult individuals in vitro. In contrast, conjugates of dinitrophenylated KLH and of BPO-HGG and the carriers HGG and KLH alone failed to do so. Similarly, release of the non-specific helper factor, lymphocyte mitogenic factor (LMF) occurred only after BPO-KLH stimulation. LMF activity was measured by B-cell proliferation and incorporation of radioactive amino acids into secreted immunoglobulin.
Treatment with BPO-HGG for 24 h in vitro inhibited BPO-KLH-induced lymphocyte proliferation and LMF release. Treatment with either HGG, dinitrophenylated HGG, BPO-KLH, or BPO-human serum albumin failed to abrogate T-cell lymphocyte proliferation of human lymphocytes in vitro. The antigen specificity of the reduced immunologic responsiveness was further demonstrated by the observation that lymphocytes treated with BPO-HGG for 24 h in vitro responded normally to tetanus toxoid antigen.
The data suggest that conjugates of BPO-HGG induce hapten-specific helper T-cell unresponsiveness in vitro.