The response of T cells to soluble protein antigens and fixed antigen-presenting cells.
A polyclonal population of antigen-specific T cells has been used to study the presentation of a soluble protein antigen (ovalbumin) using a B-cell line (A.20) as antigen-presenting cells. We find that glutaraldehyde-fixed antigen-presenting cells will present undegraded antigen to this polyclonal population of T cells. T-cell proliferation is observed only if an exogenous source of T-cell growth factor is added to the cultures. These findings are compared to the results obtained using antigen-specific T-cell clones or T-cell hybridomas and provide further evidence to suggest that degradation of antigen is not essential for the presentation of antigen to T cells.
D000818:Animals; D000938:Antigen-Presenting Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D000941:Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D000939:Epitopes; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008938:Mitosis; D010047:Ovalbumin / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
D000941:Antigens; D000939:Epitopes; D007376:Interleukin-2; D010047:Ovalbumin