Alcohol dehydrogenase-I from horse liver stimulates immunoglobulin production by human hybridoma and human peripheral blood lymphocytes.

Immunoglobulin production stimulating activity of alcohol dehydrogenase [EC 1.1.1.1] was assessed. Alcohol dehydrogenase-I (ADH-I) derived from horse liver stimulated IgM production by human-human hybridoma, HB4C5 cells producing human lung cancer specific monoclonal IgM. IgM production of HB4C5 cells was enhanced more than 6 fold by the addition of ADH-I at 400 microg/ml under serum-free condition. However, yeast derived ADHs, such as ADH-II and -III were ineffective to accelerate immunoglobulin production of the hybridoma line. These results imply that the immunoglobulin production stimulating effect of ADH-I is irrelevant to its enzymatic function, and defined as a novel feature of ADH-I. This enzyme also stimulated IgM and IgG production by human peripheral blood lymphocytes 2.9 fold and 1.4 fold, respectively. This fact suggests that ADH-I stimulates immunoglobulin production not only by specific hybridoma cell line, but also by non-specific immunoglobulin producers.