Role of adenosine deaminase in lymphocyte proliferation.

Activity of adenosine deaminase (ADA), an enzyme known to be deficient in some patients with severe combined immunodeficiency, increased three-fold within a 24-hour exposure of human peripheral blood lymphocytes to phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) in culture. This increase took place before the onset of DNA synthesis. Increased levels of ADA activity were also observed in lymphocytes incubated with pokeweed mitogen (PWM) for 60 hr. DNA synthesis induced by PHA, PWM or mixed lymphocyte cultures (MLC) was strongly inhibited by adenosine at concentrations of 10(-4) M or higher when human peripheral blood lymphocytes were cultured in a medium supplemented with horse serum, which lacks ADA. 10(-6)-10(-8) M coformycin, a potent inhibitor of ADA, inhibited PHA-, PWM- and MLC-induced DNA synthesis to a variable extent, whereas thymidine incorporation induced by Salmonella lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in mouse spleen cell cultures was strongly inhibited (by 75% or more) by 10(-6) M coformycin. Combination of 10(-7)-10(-8) M coformycin and 10(-4)-10(-5) M adenosine synergistically inhibited mitogen- or MLC-induced DNA synthesis in human and mouse lymphocyte cultures. These results, together with observations on children with ADA deficiency, provide evidence that adenosine deaminase is highly important for lymphocyte proliferation. Human peripheral blood lymphocytes incubated with PHA, 10(-5) M adenosine and 10(-7) M coformycin showed some cytotoxicity whereas the rate of 51Cr release from normal lymphocytes was not modified by the drugs. These findings suggest that in vivo clones of lymphocytes responding to specific antigens might be eliminated by coformycin, which may prove to be useful as a specific immunosuppressive agent.