Heat-labile B-cell mitogen obtained from Listeria monocytogenes

A water-soluble extract of Listeria monocytogenes strain 10403 acts as a mitogen on cultured mouse spleen lymphocytes. This mitogen induced a response six to nine times that of controls, as measured by [3H]thymidine incorporation. The mitogen extract was derived from washed bacterial cells which were mechanically disrupted with a French press. The extract was centrifuged at 105,000 X g and filtered through a 0.22-micrometer filter. Similar levels of lymphocyte stimulation were observed in lymphocyte cultures prepared from spleens of nude mice, indicating the effect of this mitogen on B-cells. The mitogenic property of this extract was destroyed by heating to 56 degrees C. This heat treatment does not destroy the antigens in the extract, which stimulate spleen cell cultures obtained from specifically immune mice. Similarly prepared extracts from Staphylococcus epidermidis and Salmonella typhimurium did not show similar levels of mitogenic activity. The mitogenic property of the L. monocytogenes extract was present in two strains of Listeria tested and was not associated with mouse virulence.