Mitogenic effects of purified outer membrane proteins from Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Three major outer membrane proteins from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 were purified and tested for their ability to stimulate resting murine lymphocytes to proliferate. It was demonstrated that picomole amounts of all three proteins were mitogenic for both intact and T-lymphocyte-depleted populations of spleen cells from C3H/HeJ mice. In contrast, they had no activity against either mature or immature thymocytes. Since the strain of mice used is unable to respond to lipopolysaccharide, we condlude that the three proteins are B-cell mitogens.