Antibody-induced suppression and postsuppression stimulation of complement in vitro. III. Long-term C4 suppression is actively maintained by a soluble suppressor factor (FsC4).

Previous work in our laboratory established that individual complement components can be regulated in vivo by administration of specific antibody or immunocompetent cells to newborns and in vitro by administration of specific antibody to cultured peritoneal macrophages or splenic fragments. Antibody-induced suppression of C4 was much longer lasting in cultured guinea pig splenic fragments than in cultured guinea pig peritoneal macrophages, suggesting that splenic fragments contained elements necessary for long-term suppression that were not present in the macrophage monolayers. This publication presents data in support of this concept. Antibody-treated splenic fragments from normal guinea pigs--but not from C4-deficient guinea pigs--elaborated a soluble factor (FsC4) that suppressed C4 production in previously untreated splenic fragments. FsC4 activity was most potent in splenic fragment culture supernatants at those times when intracellular and secreted C4 hemolytic activity and C4 antigen were at their lowest. C4 itself or a fragment of C4 was therefore unlikely to mediate suppression in this system. Residual anti-C4 antibody was ruled out as a mediator of FsC4 activity since it was shown by two independent methods that the amount of anti-C4 antibody carried over with the supernatant was orders of magnitude less than the amount necessary to cause suppression or to neutralize fluid phase C4 in fresh splenic fragment cultures. Preliminary data revealed that FsC4 activity may be mediated by two or more distinct molecular species or may be mediated by a single molecule that exhibits secondary size and charge heterogeneity. The identification of factors that are capable of regulating C4 suggests that, as with immunoglobulins, complement components may be regulated by complex networks of immunocompetent cells and their soluble products.