Mitogenic effect of polyclonal anti-porcine lymphocyte E-receptor antiserum IgG

In the present paper we report the mitogenic effect of the sheep anti-porcine lymphocyte E-receptor antiserum IgG(APERIgG) on porcine peripheral T-lymphocytes in vitro. The effect was apparently dose-dependent and not seen in the B-lymphocyte cultures. Kinetic study showed that the maximal 3H-thymidine incorporation, similar to that induced by Con A, occurred on the third day of incubation. Neither F(ab')2 nor Fab fragment of APERIgG was able to induce cell proliferation, indicating that the integrity of IgG molecule was essential for cell response. It was very interesting to note that though there is cross antigenicity between porcine and human E-receptors, no similar effect could be produced by APERIgG in human peripheral lymphocyte cultures under the same experimental conditions, suggesting the existence of minor difference in structure between the porcine and human E-receptors.