Manlio Ferrarini

Characterization of Human T-Cell Subpopulations as Defined by Specific Receptors for Immunoglobulins

Receptors for immunoglobulin (Ig) molecules have been detected on mononuclear “lymphoid” cells of several animal species. Analysis of thecellular populations involved has demonstrated that Ig receptors are expressed by monocytes, macrophages, and lymphocytes (Didder, 1976). Studies of lymphocyte subpopulations have shown that T cells (Lee and Paraskevas, 1972; Yoshida and Andersson, 1972; Soteriades-Vlachos et al, 1974; Anderson and Grey, 1974; Ferrarini et al, 1915a; Winchester et al, 1975; Brown and Greaves, 1974), B cells (Basten et al., 1972; Dickler and Kunkel, 1972), and a third subset of non-T, non-B cells, not fully characterized and often referred to as “null cells” (Froland and Natvig, 1973; Kurnick and Grey, 1975; Horwitz and Garrett, 1977), may possess receptors for immunoglobulin. Early studies on lymphocytes revealed receptors for IgG molecules mainly, if not exclusively, but receptors for other 1g classes have been described more recently. Receptors for IgM have been found on both normal and leukemic T lymphocytes (Moretta et al., 1975; McConnell and Hurd, 1976; Gmelig-Meyling et al., 1976; Moretta et al, 1911a) and B lymphocytes (Hichler and Knapp, 1977; Ferrarini et al., 1977), while receptors for IgE have been detected on a subpopulation of human B cells (GonzalesMolina and Spiegelberg, 1977).