Regulation of the immune response in Plasmodium falciparum malaria: IV. T cell dependent production of immunoglobulin and anti-P. falciparum antibodies in vitro.

T cells from patients with acute Plasmodium falciparum malaria were investigated for induction of immunoglobulin- or anti-malaria antibody secretion in vitro. Stimulation of autologous T/B cell mixtures (2T:1B) with low concentrations of P. falciparum antigen and cultured for 12 days gave rise to a T-dependent IgG secretion which was significantly elevated over that in medium controls. This was achieved with both a crude P. falciparum antigen and a partially purified preparation enriched in Pf 155, a merozoite-derived antigen deposited in the red cell membrane at invasion (Perlmann et al., 1984). Control antigen (RBC ghosts) induced IgG secretion only when added at high concentrations (greater than 10 micrograms/ml). Neither of the antigens induced IgG secretion at concentrations of less than or equal to 10 micrograms/ml in control cultures of lymphocytes from patients with P. vivax malaria. Supernatants from cultures of P. falciparum patients frequently contained anti-P. falciparum antibodies when nanogram quantities (10-100 ng/ml) of either one of the two malaria antigen preparations was used for stimulation. No anti-P. falciparum antibodies were induced by the control antigen at any concentration. The induced anti-P. falciparum antibodies were directed to intracellular parasites and. at lower frequencies, to Pf 155 as detected on the surface of infected erythrocytes. The induction in vitro of anti-P. falciparum antibodies appeared to be correlated with the presence of such antibodies in the sera of the lymphocyte donors. The lymphocytes of only one out of eight P. vivax patients responded to antigen stimulation by secreting anti-P. falciparum antibodies. However, this donor (but not any of the others), was also P. falciparum seropositive. Taken together, these results indicate that the induction of anti-P. falciparum antibody secretion reflects a secondary response in vitro of cells primed in vivo. The present experimental system should be well suited to map parasite antigen for their capacity to induce T cell dependent responses in P. falciparum malaria.