M. Robinson et Tr. Gustad, IN-VITRO STIMULATION OF NAIVE MOUSE LYMPHOCYTES BY HELIGMOSOMOIDES-POLYGYRUS ADULT WORM ANTIGENS INDUCES THE PRODUCTION OF IGG1, Parasite immunology, 18(2), 1996, pp. 87-93
The production of high levels of IgGl, by mice chronically infected wi
th the parasitic nematode Heligmosomoides polygyrus, has been document
ed for a number of years. In order to investigate this phenomenon, nai
ve lymphocytes from B10.D2 mice were incubated in vitro with H. polygy
rus adult worm homogenate (AWH) and the culture supernatants examined
for immunoglobulin production. Stimulation of pooled naive splenocytes
gy AWH was found to produce IgGl, but not IgM, in an antigen dose dep
endent manner. Identical stimulation of splenocytes of individual inbr
ed mice, indicated that this effect was reproducible but with consider
able variation between mice. When the IgGl produced was tested for spe
cificity, it was found that there was little evidence that the immunog
lobulin produced was able to bind to the inducing parasite antigens. A
nalysis of purified T cells reconstituted with splenocytes, demonstrat
ed that T cells were the target lymphocytes of the stimulating molecul
e, contained within AWH. These results show that H. polygyrus AWH can
induce the production of non-parasite specific IgGl from naive splenoc
ytes and that this production is crucially dependent upon the cell con
tent of the in vitro culture. Furthermore, the production of IgGl is n
ot proportional to the degree of lymphocyte proliferation. It is sugge
sted that at least part of the hypergammaglobulinaemia produced during
a primary H. polygyrus infection, is due to this non-specific stimula
tion of mouse lymphocytes by the parasite.