Overproduction of immunoglobulin mRNA by a murine myeloma MOPC 315 variant cell line.

The mouse myeloma MOPC 315 cell line synthesizes and secretes IgA (lambda 2) immunoglobulin. A spontaneously arising variant of the MOPC 315 line, which had been isolated as apparently oversecreting IgA protein, has been characterized. The variant line has been shown to synthesize and secrete increased levels of heavy chain, light chain, and J chain polypeptide compared to the parental wild-type cells from which it was isolated. The steady-state levels of cytoplasmic mRNA for these polypeptides are increased commensurately in the over-producing line. For the heavy chain, enhanced transcription, and possibly increased gene dosage, appear to be involved. The increased levels of the three individual immunoglobulin polypeptide chains suggest that the variant line displays a coordinate regulation of expression of immunoglobulin genes.