The Immunologic Significance of Antigen Induced Lymphocyte Transformation in Vitro

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Abstract
Summary: Lymphocytes from guinea pigs immunized subcutaneously with tuberculin and other protein antigens in Freund's adjuvant will undergo a characteristic morphologic transformation on exposure to the sensitizing antigen in tissue culture. This reaction is strongly correlated with the state of delayed hypersensitivity in these animals. Animals immunized intravenously with large doses of antigen develop circulating antibody to ther antigen or hapten, but lymph node lymphocytes obtained from them fail to show the in vitro reaction. Similarly, lymphocytes from animals immunized with hapten-protein complexes respond to the immunizing conjugate but not to the hapten linked to an indifferent carrier despite the presence of hapten specific antibody in the donors. The technique may provide a means of studying the relationship between delayed hypersensitivity and the cytologic events leading to antibody synthesis.