The placental regulatory factor involved in the asymmetric IgG antibody synthesis responds to IL-6 features

Pregnancy success is attributed to the joint action of several factors such as regulatory placental molecules and components of the mother's immune system, among others. Asymmetrical glycosilated and functionally univalent IgG antibodies are suggested to influence the immune balance between the mother and foetus, playing a meaningful role on the foetal survival in the maternal uterus. Placental secretory factors might be responsible for the increase of these molecules during gestation. Since placental factors appeared to be the inducers of these high Concanavaline A-affinity (Con-A) IgG molecules our work was focused on the identification of such factors. The chromatographic separation of placental culture supernatants (PCS) allowed the detection of fractions capable of increasing the high Con-A affinity monoclonal antibody (Mab) ratio synthesised by a hybridoma. The presence of multimeric placental forms of interleukin 6 (IL-6) could be identified in these fractions. Considering that IL-6 modulates protein glycosylation we decided to investigate its effect on the monoclonal IgG glycosylation. When placental IL-6 containing fractions or rIL-6h were added to hybridoma cultures, the proportion of asymmetric IgG antibodies increased substantially.