A monoclonal antibody to a novel differentiation antigen on human macrophages associated with the down-regulatory phase of the inflammatory process.

A monoclonal antibody (RM3/1), raised by immunizing mice with human monocytes, is described which detects a surface antigen on about 20% of freshly isolated peripheral blood monocytes and is increasingly expressed upon cultivation, reaching a maximum between day 2 and 3. By incubation of monocytes with interferon-gamma, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate and lipopolysaccharide, antigen expression is decreased but strongly enhanced after incubation with dexamethasone. In cryostat sections of normal tissue, the antibody detects histiocytes in the skin, Kupffer cells in the liver, few alveolar macrophages in the lung, macrophages in the red pulp of the spleen and in the cortex of the thymus, and many macrophages in the placenta. In acute inflammatory tissue, e.g. gingivitis, the antigen is preferentially expressed by macrophages appearing late in the inflammatory process. In chronic inflammation, e.g. BCG granulomas and rheumatoid arthritis, RM3/1-positive macrophages are seen to varying degrees. Double-staining experiments with the antigen 25F9, specific for resting mature macrophages, revealed that RM3/1 and 25F9 are expressed by distinct populations in normal and acute inflammatory tissues. From this it is concluded that the antibody RM3/1 specifically detects a macrophage phenotype which seems to be associated with the healing phase of the inflammatory process.