Characterization of warm-reactive IgG anti-lymphocyte antibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus. Relative specificity for mitogen-activated T cells and their soluble products.

In addition to previously described cold-reactive IgM anti-lymphocyte antibodies maximally cytotoxic for resting cells at 15 degrees C, sera from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were found to contain a new type of antibody preferentially reactive at physiologic temperatures with mitogen-activated lymphocytes. This antibody lacked specificity for unstimulated lymphocytes, and was shown to be of the IgG class both by indirect immunofluorescence and in immunochemical experiments. Certain SLE sera also contained IgG antibodies with the capacity to develop plaques with mitogen-activated T lymphocyte preparations used in a reverse hemolytic plaque assay, indicating reactivity with products released by activated cells. The elimination of the ability of SLE sera to develop plaques after absorption with viable mitogen-stimulated lymphocytes, but not with resting cells, suggested that these antibodies were directed toward activation "neoantigen(s)" shed from the cell surface membrane. Surface membrane phenotype analyses performed by using a variety of monoclonal antibody reagents indicated that the plaque-forming cells (PFC) detected with SLE sera were activated T lymphocytes not restricted to single OKT4+, OKT8+, or Ia antigen+ subpopulations. Essentially all PFC expressed transferrin receptors. The present data raise the possibility that certain of the interesting effects of anti-lymphocyte antibodies on immunologic function in SLE may be mediated by interactions of these new type(s) of antibodies with activated lymphocytes or their products, rather than through blocking or depletion effects on resting precursor cells.