Ovalbumin-Specific Human B-Cell Activation and Maturation

By means of a panel of monoclonal antibodies it is demonstrated that, in cultures of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) with the T-cell-dependent (TD) antigen ovalbumin (OA), responding B cells are activated from the resting state. The differentiation of the activated B cells to high rate-secreting plasma blasts, however, is arrested in an early activation phase, in which they can be detected as low rate-secreting plaque-forming cells. The arrest does not occur when stimulation with OA occurs in the presence of antigen-nonspecific activation and maturation factors, which are provided in the culture by the anamnestic response to the TD antigen tetanus toxoid.