Activation of human platelets by antibodies to thymocytes and beta 2-microglobulin. I. Qualitative and quantitative aspects of the platelet aggregation induced by HATG and SA beta 2mG.

The platelet effect of antibody preparations known to have immunosuppressive action was investigated by a turbidimetric method in vitro. Both horse anti-human thymocyte globulin (HATG) and sheep anti-human beta 2-microglobulin IgG (SA beta 2mG) caused the platelets to aggregate in all human platelet-rich plasmas (PRP) tested. The aggregation was usually irreversible and characterized by a sigmoid curve. The action is specific for the antibodies in HATG and SA beta 2mG because control preparations (horse normal IgG and IgG fractions of sheep normal, anti-dog IgG and anti-human IgA sera) were ineffective; further, heating (30 min at 56 degrees C) and BaSO4 or Al(OH)3 adsorption of HATG and SA beta 2mG did not alter their aggregating capability. When HATG and SA beta 2mG were added together to PRP, they induced aggregation in a simple additive manner. High antibody doses tended to decrease the extent of aggregation. The effect of platelet count on aggregation varied with both the dose level ('low' or 'high') and type (HATG or SA beta 2mG) of the inducer antibody. Using fixed submaximal doses, four main aggregation patterns could be recognized among 60 PRP: (i) high responses to both HATG and SA beta 2mG; (ii) high to HATG, low to SA beta 2mG; (iii) low to HATG, high to SA beta 2mG; and (iv) low to both. The results provide guidelines for quantitative aggregation studies with platelet antibodies and suggest that HATG and SA beta 2mG act through distinct platelet membrane components, the receptor for the latter being the best characterized protein of the mammalian cell membrane.