These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Immunoregulatory functions of BCG-elicited alveolar macrophages in cell-mediated immune responses.
    Author: Igietseme JU, Herscowitz HB.
    Journal: Reg Immunol; 1988; 1(3):172-81. PubMed ID: 3079425.
    Abstract:
    The pulmonary alveolar macrophage (AM) has been shown to play an important role in maintenance of the lung. However, the function of AM in specific cell-mediated immune responses has not been studied in detail. By employing both functional and immunologic assays, the present studies were undertaken to investigate the accessory and immunoregulatory functions of BCG-elicited AM in cell-mediated immune responses in vitro. AM, at concentrations of from 1.0 to 10%, could replace the accessory function of splenic adherent cells in the biological and functional activation of purified T-lymphocyte populations stimulated by mitogen and allogeneic cells as well as for the generation of cytotoxic effector cells. In unfractionated lymphoid cell cultures, AM were found to exert pronounced dose-dependent suppressive effects on mitogen and allogeneic cell stimulation. AM-mediated suppression of cell-mediated immune responses required metabolically active AM, but it did not require direct physical contact between AM and the stimulated lymphocytes. Furthermore, kinetic studies suggested that AM-mediated suppression was a time-dependent event that affected the afferent phase of T-cell activation by arresting the development of a primary activation signal. Moreover, the biological manifestation of suppression was characterized by inhibition of blast transformation, a decline in interleukin-2 receptor expression, as well as decreased proliferation and differentiation of precursors into effector cells (cytotoxic T-lymphocytes). These results suggest that BCG-elicited AM are capable of both accessory and regulatory functions in cell-mediated immunity.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]