Lee W. Harwell

Alteration of the metastatic potential of line 1 lung carcinoma cells: opposite effects of class I antigen induction by interferons versus DMSO or gene transfection.

Class I antigens are necessary for the recognition of tumor cells by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL). The line 1 lung carcinoma is a spontaneous murine tumor deficient in class I antigen expression. Consistent with this, line 1 cells are highly metastatic in vivo. We investigated whether increasing class I antigen expression on line 1 cells could alter the metastatic potential of these tumor cells using an in vivo lung metastasis model. We used three methods to induce class I antigen expression on line 1 cells: gene transfection, treatment with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), or treatment with interferon (IFN)-beta or -gamma. We found that line 1 cells expressing a transfected class I gene were significantly less metastatic than parental line 1 cells. DMSO-treated line 1 cells also formed significantly fewer metastases than parental line 1 cells. These results indicate that increased class I antigen expression decreases the metastatic potential of line 1 cells in vivo. However, we did not observe a significant decrease in the number of lung metastases in mice receiving line 1 cells treated with IFN-beta or -gamma, despite high levels of class I antigen expression. Thus, increasing class I antigen expression with IFN has an opposite effect on metastasis from class I antigen expression induced by transfection or DMSO. These results show that the method used to increase class I antigen expression is critical in terms of the in vivo effect observed. To investigate a possible mechanism for the differences observed in vivo between these class I expressing cells, we tested whether IFN alters or blocks susceptibility of line 1 cells to immune effector cells. We found IFN treatment increased the ability of line 1 cells to be recognized by CTL but concomitantly decreased the susceptibility of line 1 cells to NK cell lysis by a non-class I antigen-related mechanism. In contrast, transfected or DMSO-treated line 1 cells which were less metastatic in vivo were susceptible to both CTL and NK-mediated lysis. Taken together, these results suggest that immune intervention against metastasizing line 1 cells may involve NK cells and CTL.

A freezing method for cell fusions to distribute and reduce labor and permit more thorough early evaluation of hybridomas

A method is described whereby cell fusions can be bulk-frozen shortly after the hybridization step. Recoveries are shown to be comparable to those obtained for control hybridomas cultured without freezing. Advantages are discussed in terms of labor distribution and antibody assay and evaluation strategies. It is further shown that peritoneal feeder cell preparations can be conveniently frozen as a means of workload reduction.

Generating monoclonal antibodies to the opioid receptor

BALB/c mice were immunized with an opioid receptor complex over the period of 1 year. Spleen cells from the mouse, whose serum inhibited opiate binding to rat neural membranes to the greatest extent, were fused with P3-X63-Ag8. 653.3 myeloma cells. By radioimmunoassay (RIA), 32 cell lines have been detected that secrete an antibody to a component of the isolated receptor complex. Antibodies from 2 of the cell lines have an effect on opiate binding to rat neural membranes. One antibody, OR-689.2.4 is an IgM cryoglobulin. This antibody partially inhibited the binding of 3H-dihydromorphine (3H-DHM), 3H-naloxone, 3H-ethylketocyclazocine (3H-EKC), and 3H-D-Ala2, D-Leu5 enkephalin (3H-DADLE) to rat neural membranes. The other antibody, OR-465.3, inhibited the binding of 3H-DHM and 3H-naloxone to rat neural membranes by a maximum of 70%. This antibody also inhibited the binding of 3H-DADLE to neural membranes but, did not affect the binding of this peptide to membranes from the neuroblastoma-glioma hybrid cell line, NG108-15. Work is ongoing to generate monoclonal antibodies specific for each subclass of opioid receptor.

Class I Antigen Expression in Line 1 Cells: Molecular Biology and Immunological Effects

Cultured line 1 murine lung carcinoma cells normally express very low levels of class I H-2 antigens. We have continued our investigations of line 1 lung carcinoma cells to understand the molecular basis of decreased expression of class I H-2 antigens and class I antigen induction with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). We show that line 1, a murine lung carcinoma cell line, has low levels of class I antigens (H-2K, D, and L) because it is deficient in both class I and beta2-microglobulin (B2M) RNAs, and tha. the mRNAs can be coordinately induced with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Our experiments suggest that interferon can induce surface expression of class I antigens but may act through a different mechanism than DMSO in inducing class I antigens. To further evaluate the regulation of class I expression, H-2Dp genes were transfected into line 1 cells. The transfected H-2 genes appear to be constitutively expressed at much higher levels than are the endogenous class I genes and are associated with endogenous B2M protein. Surface expression of the DP antigens on the transfectants is induced similar to the endogenous H-2d haplotype class I antigens following treatment with DMSO. All the DP transfectants had increased levels of B2M mRNA as well as higher levels of class I RNA when compared to control or untransfected line 1 cells. These results suggest that the regulation of class I and B2M genes is linked and that expression of class I genes can affect expression of B2M genes.