TRANSFORMATION OF RODENT LYMPHOID CELLS BY AN ENCEPHALITOGEN OF HUMAN ORIGIN

Sensitized lymphoid cells progressively enlarge, become more primitive in appearance, and finally divide when they are exposed to specific antigen or a variety of non-immunologic stimulants; this process is called transformation. By measuring the incorporation of tritiated thymidine into DNA by such cells in tissue culture we have been able to demonstrate cellular sensitivity to an encephalitogen of human origin. Sensitivity was demonstrated both with blood leukocytes and nucleated spleen cells from guinea pigs with EAE, and in spleen cells from sensitized Lewis rats, in which, however, the human protein was not encephalitogenic. © 1969 S. Karger AG, Basel.