Expression and distribution of CD11a/CD18 and CD54 during human T cell-B cell interactions.

Interactions between intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1, CD54) and leukocyte function-associated antigen 1 (LFA-1, CD11a/CD18) play a critical role in T cell-B cell collaboration. The current experiments were carried out to determine the expression and distribution of these adhesion molecules on human peripheral T cells and B cells during T cell-B cell collaboration. Resting CD4+ T cells were largely ICAM-1 negative, whereas immobilized anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody (mAb) rapidly induced ICAM-1 expression. By contrast, most B cells expressed ICAM-1 before activation, and further increases in density were noted with stimulation. Both B cells and CD4+ T cells expressed LFA-1 before activation, although the density on CD4+ T cells was considerably greater. A double staining method for electron microscopic analysis was developed that permitted analysis of the expression and distribution of ICAM-1 to be assessed during T cell-B cell collaboration. Under the experimental conditions examined, B cells showed a uniform distribution of ICAM-1. In contrast, ICAM-1 was highly mobile on the surface of CD4+ T cells. If the T cells were not fixed, staining, even at 4 degrees C, caused rapid redistribution of ICAM-1 into aggregates. However, by fixing cells before the staining procedures, the distribution of ICAM-1 on CD4+ T cells could be accurately assessed. Most (85%) of the fixed activated CD4+ T cells showed a uniform distribution of ICAM-1. However, when activated CD4+ T cells were cocultured with B cells, redistribution of ICAM-1 on CD4+ T cells but not B cells occurred, such that the majority (85%) was found at or immediately adjacent to the point of attachment to the B cells. No redistribution of LFA-1 on either T cells or B cells was found. These findings suggest that rapid changes in density of ICAM-1 expression and the mobility of ICAM-1 on activated T cells may play a role in providing activation signals to B cells during T cell-B cell collaboration.

Etiologic heterogeneity of the psychoses: is there a dopamine psychosis?

The distribution of drug-free plasma homovanillic acid (pHVA) concentrations was studied in a sample of psychotic patients, some of whom were selected for good prognostic features. Baseline pHVA was bimodally distributed, suggesting two different patient populations. The high-pHVA patients showed periods of better functioning and/or fewer symptoms 5 years before admission (p < .05) and had a more rapid (p < .05) and complete (p < .001) subacute neuroleptic response than lower-pHVA psychotics. High-pHVA psychotics did not differ in other aspects of demographics or clinical presentation from lower-pHVA psychotics. Compared to the general population, there were more psychotics in the families of high-pHVA patients (p < .005). Rapid antipsychotic response by high-pHVA psychotics is consistent with blockade of the effects of excess synaptic dopamine at D2 receptors for these patients. Results are discussed in the context of the syndromic heterogeneity of the psychoses.

Heterogeneity of the psychoses: is there a neurodegenerative psychosis?

Whereas etiological heterogeneity of the various types of schizophrenia has been repeatedly proposed, relatively few attempts have been made to separate the component diseases. Using a strategy focusing on bimodal distributions within several relevant domains of schizophrenia, we demonstrate that currently available data on schizophrenia patients are consistent with the hypothesis that some of these patients have an ongoing neurodegenerative disease, whereas others do not. We review studies (longitudinal and cross-sectional) documenting progressive increases in ventricular size, accelerated loss of brain tissues, progressive delays in treatment response, and neurochemical (magnetic resonance spectroscopy) and neurophysiological (P300) indices, all of which are consistent with ongoing cerebral degeneration in a significant subgroup of schizophrenia patients. These lines of evidence converge on a conceptualization of schizophrenia as being composed of several etiologically distinct processes, with one subset of psychotic patients evidencing progressive brain degeneration. We conclude with a discussion of possible etiologies for this condition.

Development of a cell with dendritic morphology from a precursor of B lymphocyte lineage.

Cells developing dendritic morphology were detected in cultures of highly purified human B cells incubated with 4 beta-phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA). After 72 hr of culture, 2 to 7% of the cells had assumed a dendritic shape provided that contact with a plastic or glass surface also occurred. Dendritic cells developed in cultures of B cells prepared by positively selecting cells that stained with the B cell-specific monoclonal antibody B1 with the fluorescence-activated cell sorter. By contrast, dendritic cells could not be detected in cultures of cells obtained from patients with Bruton's type agammaglobulinemia that lacked B cells. Cells with dendritic morphology were nonspecific esterase negative and not phagocytic. They expressed HLA-DR, DQ, and DP antigens, receptors for interleukin 2 and transferrin, and were stained by B1 and 60.3, an antibody that identifies the beta-chain common to lymphocyte function associated antigen-1, complement receptor 3, and the p150,95 antigen, but not by monoclonal antibodies to monocytes, complement receptors 2 or 3, NK cells, T cells, or Langerhans' cells. Formation of dendritic cells was inhibited by microtubule poisons (vinblastine, colchicine), a microfilament inhibitor (cytochalasin B), and the 60.3 monoclonal antibody, but not by inhibition of DNA synthesis. These data indicate that a subset of B cells is capable of assuming dendritic morphology after stimulation with phorbol esters and attachment to a surface. These dendritic cells exhibit characteristics that are quite similar to the interdigitating cells found in T cell-dependent areas of lymph nodes.