A "lymphokine-like" soluble product that induces proliferation and maturation of B cells appears in the serum-free supernatant of a T cell hybridoma as a consequence of mycoplasmal contamination.

The serum-free supernatant of a cloned murine T cell hybridoma supports the proliferation and maturation to Ig secretion of purified B cells (mu+ cells) from BALB/c nu/nu mice, but has no effect on the proliferation of nylon wool-selected BALB/c nu/+ splenic T cells. Although the supernatant activates B cells without co-stimulation, it synergizes with anti-mu for the proliferative response. The induction of B cell proliferation and maturation to Ig secretion is directly related to contamination of the hybridoma by Mycoplasma hyorhinis. Hybridoma cells freed of mycoplasma by detergent treatment fail to produce active supernatant, and reinfection of the treated cells reconstitutes the activity. Furthermore, deliberate infection of a mycoplasma-free unrelated T cell hybridoma, as well as the monocytic cell line P388D1, results in the production of supernatants with B cell proliferating activity. Mycoplasma organisms isolated from the supernatant induce B cell proliferation without subsequent maturation to Ig secretion. Gel filtration chromatography of the supernatant from mycoplasma-contaminated hybridoma cells yields two peaks of activity. The first peak, found at the exclusion limit of the gel, results in B cell proliferation without maturation and may be attributed to mycoplasma organisms. The second peak (average m.w. 90,000) results in B cell proliferation as well as differentiation to Ig secretion. A "lymphokine-like" soluble product released by Mycoplasma hyorhinis is most likely responsible for this B cell activation, because fractionation of the supernatant from deliberately contaminated P388D1 cells gives essentially the same results, and gel filtration of mycoplasma-free supernatants does not generate any active fractions. The possibility should be considered that mycoplasma-derived soluble products may be among the many factors controlling in vitro B cell growth and maturation.