In vitro immunization for the production of antibodies to tetanus toxin and toxoid. 2. Antibody production in lymphocyte cultures

The aim of this work was to optimize the antigen-specific prestimulation of human lymphocytes for further hybridization to produce human monoclonal antibodies. In vitro stimulation of human peripheral blood lymphocytes with purified Tetanus Toxoid (TT) resulted both in an increased amount of secreted specific antibodies and in an enhancement of the portion of anti-TT antibodies in the level of total immunoglobulin secretion. Both IgG and IgM antibodies were found. Donors who had not been boostered in vivo with TT for more than 10 years also showed an antibody response to the antigen in vitro. Five days after in vivo boostering we found in lymphocyte cultures derived from 3 donors an enhanced antibody synthesis in the response to TT and also an increased portion of specific antibodies in the spontaneously secreted immunoglobulin in unstimulated control cultures.