Differential activation of T cell clones stimulated by macrophages exposed to antigen complexed with monoclonal antibodies. A possible influence of paratope specificity on the mode of antigen processing.

We have used the enhanced uptake by FcR-bearing cells observed when Ag is administered as an immune complex to investigate the possible impact of specific antibodies on processing and presentation of antigen by accessory cells. The Ag Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase alone or bound to different mAb was incubated with peritoneal macrophages. These were subsequently exposed to a battery of Ag-specific T hybridoma clones. The resulting production of IL-2 was taken as a measure of effective presentation. The results of 43 mAb-T clone combinations showed a potentiation of presentation of Ag at substimulatory concentration in the majority of the cases, indicating that each mAb is conducive to FcR-mediated uptake by macrophages, and that each T clone can be stimulated by properly presented Ag. In contrast, nine combinations yielded a lower response, two of them falling to baseline values. We attribute these results, which corroborate our previous evidence of directional help in the beta-galactosidase system, to a modulation in enzymatic processing of Ag and its subsequent presentation imposed by the paratope of the mAb binding to the relevant epitope.