Effect of liposomes on lymphocytes: Induction of proliferation of B lymphocytes and potentiation of the cytotoxic response of T lymphocytes to alloantigens

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Abstract
Liposomes of certain lipid composition prepared by the detergent removal method (Brunner, J. et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1976. 455: 322) induced the proliferation of spleen cells from different mouse strains. Spleen cell populations enriched in B lymphocytes and those obtained from nude mice were induced to proliferate, whereas spleen cell fractions enriched in T lymphocytes and thymocytes were not. The mitogenic effect of liposomes resembled that of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and it depended upon their lipid composition. Liposomes prepared from dimyristoyl lecithin (DML), 2:1 dimyristoyl lecithin:cholesterol (DML:C), 2:1 dioleoyl lecithin: cholesterol (DOL:C), and 2:1 egg yolk lecithin:cholesterol (EYL:C) were mitogenic, whereas liposomes prepared from egg yolk lecithin (EYL) alone were not mitogenic for spleen cells. The mitogenic effects of these liposome preparations were in the decreasing order DML > DOL: C ⩾ EYL: C > DML: C > EYL. The results suggest a correlation between the membrane fluidity of liposomes and their mitogenic effect. Although no proliferative response was induced on T lymphocytes, two of these liposomes, DML and EYL: C, had the ability to potentiate the cytotoxic response of T lymphocytes to alloantigens in mixed leukocyte culture. In responder‐stimulator combinations which differed for the H‐2K, H‐2D or the entire H‐2 region, these liposomes potentiated the cytotoxic response significantly. The results suggest that liposomes have an ability to modulate T lymphocyte response.