Use of fluoresceinated complement-coated bacteria and sheep erythrocyte-antibody-complement complexes for identification of complement receptors on lymphoid cell lines: differences in binding characteristics between cell lines of normal and malignant origin.

Twenty-four lymphoma-derived cell lines, 11 cord blood lymphocyte lines, and 3 lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from normal adults were examined for complement (C) receptors utilizing fluoresceinated C-coated bacteria (FBC) to determine the optimal conditions for each type of cell line. Incubation of FBC with lymphoma-derived cell lines at 37 and 0.5 degrees C showed that maximal FBC binding at both temperatures was after 120 minutes, and peak reactivity was invariably higher at 37 degrees C. These temperature-dependent differences were similar, both in Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen (EBNA)-positive and EBNA-negative lines. EBNA-positive lines, however, expressed higher levels of FBC rosettes than EBNA-negative lines at both temperatures. In contrast, FBC binding to cord blood cell lines after 120-minute incubation was maximal at 0.5 degrees C. Although similar numbers of FBC rosettes were formed after 30 minutes at both 37 and 0.5 degrees C in cord blood cell lines, rosette formation deteriorated after longer periods of incubation at 37 degrees C. The optimal temperature for FBC binding to lymphoblastoid cell lines could not be determined, since bacteria bound spontaneously to these lines at 37 degrees C. Cell lines were also tested simultaneously for sheep erythrocyte-antibody-complement complex (EAC)M and FBC binding at 37 and 0.5 degrees C. FBC reactivity under optimal conditions for each type of cell line correlated well with EACM reactivity at 37 degrees C. The significance of these results is discussed.