Echinococcus granulosus: assays for hydatid immunoregulatory factors usingestablished lymphoid cell lines

Mitosis, mitochondrial metabolic rate and proliferation were measured in es tablished lymphoid cell lines exposed to chromatographic fractions of equin e Echinococcus granulosus hydratid fluid. In several cell lines, one or mor e of the three parameters were modified by the exposure. As art assay for p otential immunoregulatory activity, the method was simple and repeatable. T he following novel observations were made: (1) Mitotic reaction was found a mong lines of T-cell, B-cell and macrophage origin; (2) mitosis,vas accompa nied by proliferation in the B-cell lines, B9 and A20, and in the macrophag e lines, HL-60 and P388d. With mitotically responsive T-cells, proliferatio n was slight in CTLL-2 and absent in DIG, implying cell-cycle modification; (3) mitotic responsiveness tended to occur in cell lines with mature chara cteristics; (4) among cytokine-dependent cell lines, hydatid fluid FPLC fra ction I mimicked IL-1 and several fractions mimicked IL-2 and IL-6 in the m aintenance of mitosis; and (5) there was significant statistical interactio n between the influences of mammalian cytokines and hydatid fluid fractions implying that the propensity of antigenically unprimed lymphoid cells to b e regulated by E. granulosus is conditioned by cytokine activity.