Pattern of Immunoglobulin Production in Individual Cells of Human Hematopoietic Origin in Established Culture

[摘要] The presence of immunoglobulins and their subunits was studied in cultured cells of 27 established cell lines of human hematopoietic origin. Antibodies monospecific to each of the component chains of immunoglobulin (γ, α and µ heavy chains and κ and λ light chains) were conjugated with either fluorescein (Fl) or tetramethylrhodamine (TMR) and paired mixtures of a Fl-conjugated antibody of one specificity and a TMR-conjugated antibody of another specificity were used to investigate individual cells in culture.It was found that cell lines can be classified into the following groups with respect to the nature of immunoglobulins and their subunits produced in individual cells: a) Two cell lines contained cells in which only light chains of a single type were detected; b) Four cell lines contained cells in which only heavy chains of a single class were detected; c) Eleven cell lines contained a single population of cells in which heavy chains of a single class and light chains of a single type (presumably a single immunoglobulin) were detected; d) Five cell lines consisted of a mixture of two or mor cell populations each of which contained single immunoglobulins of different classes; e) Five cell lines contained a substantial number of individual cells in which heavy chains of two different classes, γ and α (two cell lines), or γ and µ (three cell lines) and light chains of a single type were detected.In contrast to the coexistence of two different heavy chains in individual cells of five cell lines, no cell was found to contain more than a single type of light chains and even the cells containing two heavy chains had only a single light chain. This suggests that the lymphoid cells differentiate earlier for the regulation of light chain genes than for the regulation of heavy chain genes.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）