Effect of prostaglandins and cyclic nucleotides on growth and immunoglobulin secretion of two IgE myeloma cell lines.

The effect of various mediators on the growth and secretion of IgE by two human myeloma cell lines derived originally from the same tumour was tested. It was found that the growth of U266 was unaffected by PGE2, but IgE secretion was blocked. PGF2 alpha, whilst inhibiting growth, had little effect on IgE secretion. With the second cell line, U266 BL, it was found that none of the agents tested could modulate the secretion of IgE, though cell growth was blocked by PGE2. Prostaglandins act by modulating cyclic nucleotides, the E series increasing the level of cAMP and the F series causing a rise in cGMP. Our findings with prostaglandins could be mimicked by the relevant cyclic nucleotide. Possible explanations for these differences are discussed.