Production of IgE-potentiating factor in man by T cell lines bearing Fc receptors for IgE.
The regulation of human IgE production in vitro by soluble T cell factors was examined. T cells were isolated from the peripheral blood of 2 patients with the hyper-IgE syndrome on the basis of their expression of Fc receptors for human IgE (Fc epsilon R). The T cells were incubated with human myeloma IgE (10 micrograms/ml), washed, reacted with immunosorbent-purified goat anti-human IgE conjugated with fluorescein isothiocyanate, and then separated into Fc epsilon R+ and Fc epsilon R- T cells on the fluorescence-activated cell sorter. Fc epsilon R+ T cells and Fc epsilon R- T cells were propagated in culture using supernatants of phytohemagglutinin-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and irradiated autologous PBMC. Supernatants of Fc epsilon R+ T cell lines but not of Fc epsilon R- T cell lines selectively enhanced IgE synthesis in cultures of B cells obtained from patients with allergic rhinitis but not from normal nonallergic subjects. The surface phenotype of the Fc epsilon R+ T cell line was predominantly T3+, T4+, Ia+ with few (15%) T8+ cells. Two T cell clones were grown from the Fc epsilon R+ T cell line by limiting dilution (0.3 cells/well). These clones possessed the T4+ helper/inducer phenotype and secreted IgE-enhancing factor(s). The IgE-enhancing factor(s) which had affinity for insolubilized human IgE was sensitive to treatment with trypsin and neuraminidase, and had as its target an IgE-bearing B cell. These results suggest that a subset of human T cells bearing an Fc epsilon R secretes an IgE-binding glycoprotein which selectively enhances IgE synthesis by IgE-bearing B cells.
D000328:Adult; D002460:Cell Line; D002469:Cell Separation; D002999:Clone Cells; D006801:Humans; D006942:Hypergammaglobulinemia / Q000276:immunology; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008222:Lymphokines / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D029584:Prostatic Secretory Proteins; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D011961:Receptors, Fc; D017455:Receptors, IgE; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
D008222:Lymphokines; D029584:Prostatic Secretory Proteins; D011961:Receptors, Fc; D017455:Receptors, IgE; C043076:beta-microseminoprotein; C013059:immunoglobulin-binding factors; D007073:Immunoglobulin E