Evidence for an immunoglobulin-dependent antigen-specific helper T cell

Area of Science:

• Immunology
• Cellular immunology
• T cell-B cell interactions

Background:

• Thymus-derived lymphocytes (T cells) influence antibody production by B cells.
• B cells possess immunoglobulin receptors that can be recognized by T cells.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and validate a model for T cell-mediated regulation of antibody responses.
• To investigate the role of T cells recognizing immunoglobulin determinants on B cells.

Main Methods:

• Adoptive secondary antibody response assays.
• Analysis of T cell populations in normal and experimentally agammaglobulinemic mice.

Main Results:

• A synergistic model involving two antigen-specific T helper cells was proposed.
• One T helper cell recognizes both antigen and immunoglobulin determinants.
• This immunoglobulin-recognizing T helper cell is essential and absent in agammaglobulinemic mice.

Conclusions:

• The existence of an