Polyclonal immunoglobulin synthesis induced by a macrophage factor acting via T cells.

New Zealand White rabbits were killed 7 days after immunization with 1 mg of alum precipitated, keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) into each hind footpad and 3 days after intraperitoneal injection of thioglycollate. When supernatants from cultures of purified, elicited macrophages were added to Mishell-Dutton cultures of primed popliteal lymphocytes, they induced synthesis of both general immunoglobulins and antibody specific for KLH. The active factor(s), polyclonal lymphocyte activator (PLA), appears to be a glycoprotein with a molecular weight between 150,000 and 200,000 daltons. Absorption with high concentrations of thymocytes but not bone marrow cells removed polyclonal stimulatory activity from peritoneal macrophage supernatants which contained PLA. Purified lymph-node B cells were stimulated by PLA only in the presence of T cells. In addition, supernatants from PLA activated, washed T cells were effective at inducing polyclonal B-cell activation. Thus, PLA appears to act indirectly on B cells by stimulating T cells to produce a soluble factor which induces polyclonal B-cell activation.