T-24.B-cell differentiation factor induces immunoglobulin secretion in human B cells without prior cell replication.

Stimulation of B lymphocytes from B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (B-CLL) with 12-0-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) has shown that these cells are capable of differentiation (Totterman, Nilsson & Sundstrom, 1980). Increases in the expression of different class II MHC antigens (Guy et al., 1983, 1986) and responsiveness to growth factors (Kabelitz et al., 1985; Suzuki, Butler & Cooper, 1985) have been studied. Supernatant from the human bladder carcinoma line T-24 contains a B-cell differentiation factor (BCDF) able to induce immunoglobulin secretion from CESS cells. We investigated the induction of proliferation and immunoglobulin secretion in human B cells by studying the effects of this factor on B-CLL cells, in both the presence and absence of TPA. We report here that this material (termed T-24.BCDF) causes immunoglobulin secretion to be initiated in these cells, and that this is not accompanied by detectable DNA synthesis. These observations were extended to normal human B cells and demonstrate that human B cells can secrete immunoglobulin in the absence of clonal expansion.