Resting B lymphocytes are activated, proliferate, and differentiate into antibody-secreting cells when cultured with long-term lines of major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-restricted, antigen-specific T cell in the presence of the antigen for which the T cells are specific. Under optimal conditions, essentially all B cells are activated and approximately 35% enter S phase in the absence of antigens for which the B cells are specific. Activation and proliferation are observed in cells from both normal mice and mice with the xid-determined immune defect. Highly purified B cells bearing Ia molecules for which the T cells are "cospecific" can present antigen to T cells with the resulting T cell stimulation leading to the activation and proliferation of the antigen-presenting B cells. However, B cells that do not bear Ia molecules for which the T cells are cospecific are also activated and proliferate if antigen and a source of antigen-presenting B cells or macrophage-rich cells of proper histocompatibility type are present. Thus, resting B cells, both normal and "xid", can be activated by non-MHC restricted factors without receptor cross-linkage. Experiments are presented that support the concept that local production and action of such unrestricted activating factors may be responsible for the MHC-restriction of T cell-B cell interaction seen in many circumstances.

The frequency of murine B lymphocytes that respond to antibodies directed against membrane IgM was measured. These anti-mu antibodies induced all, or almost all, resting B cells to enlarge over the first 24 h of stimulation. This probably represents the transition from the resting state (G0) to active transit through the cell cycle. In contrast, only a fraction of these cells, approximately 60% for BDF1 mice, continued through the cell cycle into S phase. This is consistent with previous experiments that had suggested there were some types of B cells that did not proliferate in response to anti-mu. The results presented here demonstrate that many, perhaps all, of these nonresponding B cells, both from normal mice and from mice with the xid defect, actually do respond to the presence of anti-mu by going through early parts of the cell cycle. These cells appear to become blocked at some point before the beginning of S phase, perhaps requiring a signal from a T cell or a macrophage to continue through the cell cycle. Thus, the role of antigen may be to prepare all B cells for proliferation. Different subpopulations of B cells may then require different regulatory signals before actually proliferating or before differentiating into antibody-secreting cells.

In this report we have examined the ability of small resting B cells to act as antigen-presenting cells (APC) to antigen-specific MHC-restricted T cells as assessed by either T cell proliferation or T cell-dependent B cell stimulation. We found that 10 of 14 in vitro antigen-specific MHC-restricted T cell clones and lines and three of four T cell hybridomas could be induced to either proliferate or secrete IL-2 in the presence of lightly irradiated (1,000 rads) purified B cells and the appropriate foreign antigen. All T cell lines and hybridomas were stimulated to proliferate or make IL-2 by macrophage- and dendritic cell-enriched populations and all T cells tested except one hybridoma caused B cell activation when stimulated with B cells as APC. Furthermore, lightly irradiated, highly purified syngeneic B cells were as potent a source of APC for inducing B cell activation as were low density dendritic and macrophage-enriched cells. Lymph node T cells freshly taken from antigen-primed animals were also found to proliferate when cultured with purified B cells and the appropriate antigen. Thus, small resting B cells can function as APC to a variety of T cells. This APC function was easily measured when the cells were irradiated with 1,000 rads, but was greatly diminished or absent when they were irradiated with 3,300 rads. Thus, the failure of some other laboratories to observe this phenomenon may be the result of the relative radiosensitivity of the antigen-presenting function of the B cells. In addition, this radiosensitivity allowed us to easily distinguish B cell antigen presentation from presentation by the dendritic cell and macrophage, as the latter was resistant to 3,300 rads. Finally, one T cell clone that failed to proliferate when B cells were used as APC was able to recruit allogeneic B cells to proliferate in the presence of syngeneic B cells and the appropriate antigen. This result suggests that there are at least two distinct pathways of activation in T cells, one that leads to T cell proliferation and one that leads to the secretion of B cell recruitment factor(s).

Activation of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) by pathogens triggers cytokine production and T cell activation, immune defense mechanisms that are linked to immunopathology. Here we show that IFN-γ production by CD4 + T H 1 cells during mucosal responses to the