title: Presence of helper or suppressor factors to IgE synthesis in the serum of atopic and non atopic individuals.
abstract: IgE synthesis was studied in cultures of human blood mononuclear cells. A technical procedure described by Gleich and further modified by Buckley was applied. Cells from atopic and non atopic individuals were cultured in the presence of either fetal calf serum, homologous serum or autologous serum. Timothy pollen antigen extract to which the atopic individuals were shown to be highly sensitive was also added in aliquot cultures. The results are as follows: Cells from atopic patients were shown to produce more IgE in vitro following contact with their corresponding serum, as compared to fetal calf serum. In those cell populations, the culture in the presence of serum from non-atopic individuals dramatically reduced the amount of newly formed IgE. To a lesser extent, the reverse could be observed, i.e. an increased amount of IgE was produced by cells from non-atopic individuals in the presence of serum from atopics. The addition of the specific antigen failed to quantitatively modify the IgE production capacity of cells from atopics. There was no quantitative correlation between the RAST tests and the amount of newly produced IgE in the supernatants. These results suggest the presence of enhancing and suppressing factors modulating the IgE synthesis in vitro in serum from atopic and non-atopic individuals.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D003470:Culture Media; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D009000:Monocytes / Q000276:immunology; D011058:Pollen / Q000276:immunology; D011852:Radioallergosorbent Test; D006255:Rhinitis, Allergic, Seasonal / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D007073:Immunoglobulin E