Influence of immunoglobulin isotypes and lymphoid cell phenotype on the transfer of immune complexes to follicular dendritic cells.

Follicular dendritic cells (FDC) are located only inside lymph follicles and are characterized mainly by their capacity to retain high amounts of immune complexes by their Fc or C3b receptors. In this work, we examine the influence of immunoglobulin isotypes and the subset of lymphoid cells (B or T) upon the transfer of immune complexes from lymphocytes to FDC. FDC isolated from mice lymph nodes by enzymatic digestion are able to fix, through Fc receptors, gold-labeled immune complexes presented by lymphoid cells. As demonstrated by electron microscopy, this transfer requires the establishment of close contacts between both cell types. Using different cell selection techniques we show that B lymphoid cells take up immune complexes more efficiently than do T lymphoid cells and transfer a larger number of them to FDC. This transfer mechanism is dependent on the immunoglobulin isotype: immune complexes constituted of IgG2a, IgG2b, and IgG1 isotypes are better transferred to FDC than those constituted of IgG3 and IgM.