A glycolipid on the surface of mouse natural killer cells

M Kasai, M Iwamod, Y Nagai… - European journal of …, 1980 - Wiley Online Library
M Kasai, M Iwamod, Y Nagai, K Okumura, T Tada
European journal of immunology, 1980Wiley Online Library
Cytotoxic treatment with rabbit antiserum raised against purified glycosphingolipid “asialo
GM1” was capable of eliminating natural killer (NK) activity of spleen cells from different
inbred mouse strains including CBA/J, C57BL/6, BALB/c, AKR, and athymic nude mice. The
anti‐asialo GM 1 antiserum showed little cross‐reactivity with structurally related glycolipids,
eg GM 1, GD 1 b and asialo GM 2 in the microflocculation test. The specific reactivity of this
antiserum with NK cells was confirmed by the quantitative absorption of anti‐NK activity with …
Abstract
Cytotoxic treatment with rabbit antiserum raised against purified glycosphingolipid “asialo GM1” was capable of eliminating natural killer (NK) activity of spleen cells from different inbred mouse strains including CBA/J, C57BL/6, BALB/c, AKR, and athymic nude mice. The anti‐asialo GM 1 antiserum showed little cross‐reactivity with structurally related glycolipids, e.g. GM 1, GD 1 b and asialo GM 2 in the microflocculation test. The specific reactivity of this antiserum with NK cells was confirmed by the quantitative absorption of anti‐NK activity with graded amounts of asialo GM 1 but not with other glycosphingolipids. The absorption of anti‐brain‐associated T cell antigen (anti‐BAT) with asialo GM 1 also effectively diminished its anti‐NK activity, leaving the ability to kill T cells intact. This suggests that the antibody to asialo GM 1 is responsible for the anti‐NK activity contained in the anti‐BAT antiserum. In contrast to the extreme sensitivity of NK cells to anti‐asialo GM 1, alloreactive cytotoxic T killer cells generated in the mixed lymphocyte culture were not killed by anti‐asialo GM 1 and complement. These results indicate that asialo GM 1 is expressed on mouse NK cells in a high concentration.
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