Anti-immunoglobulin stimulation of human B lymphocytes is inhibited by anti-class II major histocompatibility complex antibodies.

The effect of murine monoclonal antibodies binding monomorphic epitopes of Class II, HLA-DR molecules on responding human B lymphocytes stimulated by anti-immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies was studied. Goat F(ab')2 anti-human IgM coupled to Sepharose beads (insoluble), or in solution, was added to macrophage-depleted B cells in culture with, or without, anti-human HLA-DR monoclonal antibodies. The addition of monoclonal anti-HLA-DR antibodies to anti-human IgM-stimulated B lymphocytes inhibited this T-independent B-cell proliferation by 82-94%. The role of Class II, HLA-DR molecules on B cells may therefore exceed that of antigen presentation alone, to include responding B-cell activation induced by anti-immunoglobulin.