Quantitative analysis of mitogen-stimulated cellular proliferation: effect of concanavalin A and thymosin interaction

Studies of mitogen stimulated lymphocyte proliferation have shown that considerable variation exists in the magnitude of response to specific mitogens. No standard method has been devised which would permit comparisons of the non-linear proliferation response between groups. In this study a mathematical correlation between mitogen stimulation and cellular response is defined using concanavalin A as the mitogen. A logistic equation was derived by least sum of squares regression analysis. The dose response relationship of concanavalin A stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cell proliferation was natural logarithmic. A computing program was designed to accomodate any calculation related to proliferation assays. The efficacy of this program and the adequacy of the equation were confirmed after they were tested in thymosin fraction 5 treated cellular proliferation experiments. This study demonstrates a quantitative method for the comparisons of immunological proliferation response among groups.