The effect of human growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), IGF-II, and insulin on human plasma cell responses was studied. GH enhanced Ig production and thymidine uptake in the human plasma cell lines, IM-9 and AF-10. IGF-I, but not IGF-II or insulin, also enhanced Ig production and proliferation in them. However, enhancement by GH was not mediated by IGF-I, because enhan...

Localization of IgA1,2 positive objects has been studied quantitatively in the palatine and nasopharyngeal tonsils of 20 patients with pathological recurrent tonsillitis or adenoid hyperplasia. We found expression of IgA1 and IgA2 positive objects both in the tonsillar parenchyma and epithelium with predomination of the IgA1 subclass. An attempt was made to connect the morphological changes in ...

Nonhuman primates are extremely valuable animal models for a variety of human diseases. However, it is now becoming evident that these models, although widely used, are still uncharacterized. The major role that nonhuman primate species play in AIDS research as well as in the testing of Ab-based therapeutics requires the full characterization of structure and function of their Ab molecules. IgA...

We have used immunoperoxidase techniques to characterise the Peyer's patches in human terminal ileum. The mantle zones of the B cell follicles in human Peyer's patches were surrounded by B cells which did not express surface IgD but which mostly expressed surface immunoglobulin of the IgM and/or IgA1 isotype. Few cells expressing surface IgG or IgA2 were detected. Cells with cytoplasmic immunog...

A diverse antibody repertoire is primarily generated by the rearrangement of V, D, and J genes and subsequent somatic hypermutation (SHM). Class-switch recombination (CSR) produces various isotypes and subclasses with different functional properties. Although antibody isotypes and subclasses are considered to be produced by both direct and sequential CSR, it is still not fully understood how SH...