Studies on monoclonal anti-isotypic and anti-idiotypic antibodies against leukemia and myeloma: IV. Modulation of membrane fluidity of leukemic cell lines and tonsillar cell stimulated with McAbs.

In this study the technique of labelling the cell membrane with DPH fluorescence polarization was used to observe the membrane fluidity of B lymphocytic cell lines and tonsillar cells from healthy persons; the modulation effect on membrane fluidity induced by McAbs against isotypic and idiotypic determinants of IgM from patients with leukemia was studied as well. The expression of the corresponding isotypic and idiotypic determinants of IgM on the cell membrane was determined. The results show that the membrane fluidity of leukemic cell lines is remarkably higher than that of tonsillar cells from healthy persons, and McAbs against isotypic determinants of leukemic IgM can enhance the membrane fluidity of all kinds of cells mentioned above. However, the anti-idiotypic monoclonal antibody increased only the membrane fluidity of leukemic cell lines. These results indicated that there was a close relationship between the effect of McAbs on cell membrane fluidity and the expression of corresponding isotypic and idiotypic determinants of IgM on the cell membrane.