Induction of immunoglobulin secretion by a simple nucleoside derivative.

8 bromoguanosine (8BrGuo), a low m.w. nucleoside derivative that rapidly traverses the lymphocyte membrane to the interior of the cell, is an extremely potent inducer of immunoglobulin production by B lymphocytes. It has recently been demonstrated that this same agent can initiate high level lymphocyte proliferation in vitro. Data in the current report demonstrate that 8Br-cGMP and other cGMP analogues are at best weak inducers of immunoglobulin secretion, being more than two orders of magnitude less effective (per molecule taken up) than 8BrGuo. Incubation of lymphocytes with 8BrGuo fails to elevate their intracellular concentrations of cGMP. Moreover, at equimolar concentrations, underivatized cGMP actually antagonized the induction of antibody production by 8BrGuo. These data, in concert with observations that many lymphocyte activators fail to alter cGMP content, that many agents that elevate cGMP fail to induce immunoglobulin synthesis, and that some cGMP-elevating agents even inhibit it, suggest that the induction of immunoglobulin production, like the induction of proliferation in B cells, is not primarily dependent upon cGMP. A simple nucleoside derivative is described, the use of which should prove to be a powerful probe for investigating the triggering mechanisms underlying the proliferative and differentiative B lymphocyte pathways at the molecular level.