Serological demonstration of an allogeneic Ia.7 antigen on the cell surface of SJL/J-derived reticulum cell sarcomas

The reticulum cell sarcomas (RCS) of SJL/J mice are of particular interest since they readily induce the proliferation of syngeneic T-lymphocytes. Previous cellular studies examined the antigens on the RCS which stimulated this response and suggested that the tumor expressed allogeneic I-region-associated (Ia) antigens normally associated with the E alpha:E beta molecular complex (S. M. Wilbur and B. J. Bonavida, Exp. Med., 153: 501-513, 1981). These particular Ia glycoproteins are not expressed on normal SJL/J cells due to a defect in the E alpha polypeptide synthetic pathway. However, the E beta subunit is synthesized normally by these animals but remains intracellular. The SJL/J-derived RCS may circumvent this defect in E alpha subunit biosynthesis. The aberrant synthesis of this polypeptide is thought to allow membrane presentation of an intact pseudoallogeneic Ia glycoprotein which utilized the normally dormant E beta s polypeptide. In the present study, two monoclonal antibodies directed against the Ia.7 specificity of the E alpha chain (13/18, 14-4-4S) were used to examine more directly the expression of this polypeptide on the tumor. Surprisingly, neither antibody was effective against the RCS in a direct complement-mediated cytolysis assay. Nevertheless, the tumor was found to specifically adsorb lytic activity of both the monoclonal antibodies. In addition, both a cold-cell competition assay and indirect immunofluorescence corroborated the data and indicated that the RCS does express detectable levels of the Ia.7 antigen. Normal spleen cells and lipopolysaccharide B-derived blasts from SJL/J mice were found in all experiments to be devoid of any specific reactivity with these monoclonal antibodies. In addition, continued in vivo passage of transplantable RCS was found to cause down-modulation of the Ia.7 specificities on these tumors. Newer RCS transplantable lines, however, expressed demonstrable levels of this alloantigen in both cellular and serological assays. The observed down-modulation could explain the difficulties encountered in defining this specificity on long-term transplantable RCS. In conclusion, the present serological study corroborates the early cell-binding data. An Ia.7 antigen is shown to be expressed on the RCS, yet this specificity could not be detected on normal SJL/J cells.