Mitogenic Factors Produced by Lymphocyte Activation: Effect on T- and B-Cells

[摘要] During activation of lymphocytes in vitro by specific and nonspecific stimulants, various biologically active factors are produced which have been called “lymphokines” (1). Such lymphokines include factors cytotoxic for target cells, macrophage-migration inhibitor factor, a skin reactive factor, factors inducing blastogenesis, 3H-thymidine incorporation and mitosis, and others (2).The mitogenic factors could be important in recruiting cells during immune reactions and in explaining the effect of adjuvants (3). Immune responses to many antigens require cooperation of thymus-dependent (T) and bone marrow-derived (B) lymphocytes (4). It is not clear yet whether such mitogenic factors activate T- or B-lymphocytes, or both of them.In order to investigate the effect of mitogenic factors on T- and B-cells, we produced active culture supernatants in the following way: spleen cells from BALB/c mice immunized 8 weeks previously with keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) were exposed to the antigen in serum-free medium for 2 days (5).

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）