Human suppressor factors constitutively produced by T-T cell hybridomas: functional and biochemical characterization

We have recently developed a new method (Hybridoma 6:589, 1987) for the generation of human T-T cell hybrids. This method is based on a new selection procedure that involves cloning the hybrids in soft agar, screening by HLA-typing or appropriate functional tests and recloning by limiting dilution. T-T cell hybrids were separated from the parent line on the basis of their ability to form colonies in soft agar, whereas the parent lymphoblastoid T cell lines did not. HAT medium was not used in our selection procedure. Using this method, we have succeeded in developing human T-T cell hybrids (as determined by HLA-typing) constitutively producing B cell growth factor (BCGF) (Hybridoma 6:589, 1987) or suppressor factors. These hybrids were obtained by fusing MLC or Con A T cell blasts with cells from the Molt 4 or Jurkat lymphoblastoid T cell lines. T-T cell hybridomas, derived by fusing Con A-stimulated lymphocytes with cells from the Jurkat T cell line, produced suppressor factors inhibiting: (1) proliferative response in vitro of human peripheral blood mononuclear leukocytes to mitogens and to allogeneic cells in mixed lymphocyte culture; and (2) immunoglobulin synthesis and secretion by mononuclear leukocytes in the PWM-induced differentiation system in vitro. A suppressor factor with these inhibitory properties was also identified in supernatants of the Jurkat T cell line. These suppressor factors were ammonium sulphate precipitable, pH 2 labile, non-dialyzable and they were inactivated by treatment at 56 degrees C for 30 minutes. They exhibited a molecular weight in the range of 50,000-70,000, as determined by gel filtration, and were not gamma or alpha interferon or lymphotoxin/TNF. They did not lyse human lymphoblastoid tumor cell lines nor did they affect the viability and cell numbers of human mononuclear cells even after prolonged incubation (88 hr). They appeared to be cytostatic rather than cytotoxic molecules. The Jurkat suppressor factor is different from those produced by the hybrids on the basis of: (a) different isoelectric points; and (b) the ability of the Jurkat factor to arrest proliferation to PHA of human mononuclear cells in the S phase, whereas the 160 and 169 factors arrest proliferation at the G1 phase of the cell cycle. Certain of these suppressor factors (produced by the hybrids 153, 160, 170, and the Jurkat T cell line) also inhibited proliferative responses of mouse lymphocytes in vitro. In contrast, suppressor factors produced by the 169 and 77 hybrids did not inhibit any murine responses.