title: Antigen-specific chemotaxis of B cells.
abstract: The chemoattractant effect of soluble protein antigens for B cells from immunized mice was examined. Mice were immunized either via the footpad with ovalbumin (OVA) in complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) or with CFA alone; or intraperitoneally with OVA incorporated in immune-stimulating complexes (OVA-ISCOM) or with saline. After 8-14 days B cells were purified from the spleens or the draining popliteal nodes and tested in vitro for locomotor responses to antigen using polarization (shape-change) and filter assays. Cells obtained by both routes of immunization, but not cells from control mice, gave locomotor responses to OVA. Responses were seen in B cells directly after preparation (5-8% of cells responding) but were enhanced if the cells were cultured overnight in the presence of interleukin-4 (IL-4) before testing (10-12% of cells responding). Checkerboard filter assays suggested that the response to OVA was chemotactic. The response was antigen specific since cells from OVA-immunized mice did not respond to bovine serum albumin (BSA), and cells from BSA-immunized mice responded to BSA but not to OVA. The response to OVA was inhibited by preincubation of OVA with anti-OVA but not with anti-BSA. Many of the cells that polarized in response to antigen were larger than any B cells found in control populations suggesting that the responsive cells are those that had been stimulated to enter cell cycle following immunization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, University of Glasgow (Western Infirmary), UK.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Komai-Koma
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Donachie
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Wilkinson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002634:Chemotaxis, Leukocyte / Q000276:immunology*; D004306:Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology*; D005620:Freund's Adjuvant; D016882:ISCOMs / Q000276:immunology; D007114:Immunization; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000096:biosynthesis; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D010047:Ovalbumin / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; D016882:ISCOMs; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D010047:Ovalbumin; D005620:Freund's Adjuvant