Seven immortalized B cell clones, five of which secreted specific human monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against hepatitis B, tetanus toxoid, and Rhesus D antigens, were evaluated for their susceptibility to infection by human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2 (HIV-1 and HIV-2). Infection was confirmed in three human MAb-producing lines by detection of infectious virus and p24 antigen in culture supernates, by immunofluorescence, and by detection of viral DNA in cells by polymerase chain reaction. The infectable lines were as susceptible to HIV-1 infection as several T cell lines and remained persistently infected for several months, but in contrast to T cell controls, viral cytopathic effects were not observed. Levels of unintegrated viral DNA in the HB1 B cell line were significantly lower than in the HUT78 T cell line. Cell lines that were susceptible to HIV expressed HLA DR, CD20, and CD21, whereas the uninfectable cell lines did not express any of the markers tested. CD4 was undetectable or present on a small percentage of cells in two of the infectable cell lines. However, infection with HIV-1 was blocked more efficiently in B cells than in T cells by soluble CD4, anti-CD4 MAb, and dextran sulphate. The effect of HIV infection on human MAb secretion was variable, being reduced on a per-cell basis in one line, increased in another, and unchanged in a third.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A variety of immunological responses has been associated with occupational lung disease and thus they may be involved in some aspects of pathogenesis. Genetic factors may also play a role in the development of occupational lung disease. A further inherited variable which may affect the response of individuals to dust exposure is their histocompatibility antigen type (HLA). While there may be some evidence of altered immune response in those dust-exposed workers who develop lung disease, these changes do not occur in every worker so exposed. The following series of studies was thus devised to investigate various aspects of individual susceptibility that might be important in the development of lung disease following exposure to coal dust.
Serum immunoglobulin (Ig) levels were measured in 788 coalworkers and 121 nonmining controls for comparison with the radiological category of pneumoconiosis after taking into account age and smoking habit. In addition a simple assessment of humoral immune competence was made by estimating the titre of serum antibody against the common gut commensal Escherichia coli. Smoking was found to depress serum IgA and IgM whilst levels of IgG and IgA increased slightly with age. Men with radiological signs of coalworkers pneumoconiosis (CWP) had significantly raised levels of IgA and IgG with increasing pneumoconiosis category. Even coalworkers with less than category 1 simple pneumoconiosis had raised levels of IgA, suggesting that increased production of this immunoglobulin occurs before radiologically identifiable pathological changes have occurred in the lung tissue. No association between reduced humoral immune competence and radiological category of pneumoconiosis was found. Whether high Ig levels in men exposed to coal dust are merely a passive response to dusted lung tissue or whether they indicate that an immunological process is important in the development of pneumoconiotic lesions remains uncertain.
Abstract Human pituitary TSH, FSH and LH were purified from a side fraction of human pituitary growth hormone production by immunoaffinity chromatography on immobilised hormone‐specific monoclonal antibodies. Each hormone was obtained in biologically active form and was substantially free, <0·5% by weight, of the other glycoprotein hormones. The method was automated using a time‐based programmer and by applying the unbound fraction from one purification to columns of different specificities each of the three hormones was obtained from a single batch of starting material.
In this review B cell responses in HIV-infected individuals are summarized together with the techniques used to date to produce human monoclonals to HIV and the properties of these antibodies. Profound disturbances in B cell responses are apparent both in vivo and in vitro. While there is evidence in vivo of marked polyclonal B cell activation, primary and secondary antibody responses are impaired. Similarly these cells exhibit spontaneous immunoglobulin secretion upon in vitro culture but do not readily respond to B cell mitogens and recall antigens including HIV. Furthermore, certain of these defects can be reproduced in normal B cells in vitro by incubation with HIV or HIV coded peptides. Individuals infected with HIV develop antibodies to HIV structural proteins (e.g. p17, p24, gp41 and gp120) and regulatory proteins (e.g. vif, nef, RT). Autoantibodies against a number of immunologically important molecules are also frequently observed. The anti-HIV antibodies are predominantly of the IgG1 isotype and exhibit a variety of effects on the virus in vitro. To date, using conventional immortalization strategies, an appreciable number of human monoclonals to HIV have been developed. These have been specific for gp41, gp120 and gag with antibodies of the former specificity predominating. The majority of these antibodies have been of the IgG1 isotype. Only a small number of the antibodies neutralize virus in vitro and most of these react with gp120. The neutralizing antibodies recognize conformational and carbohydrate epitopes or epitopes in amino acid positions 306-322. The predominant epitopes recognized by the anti-gp41 antibodies were in amino acid positions 579-620 and 644-662. A high percentage (congruent to 25%) of these antibodies enhance viral growth in vitro. The problems relating to the production of human monoclonals to HIV are discussed together with strategies that could be used in the future.