ENHANCEMENT OF HUMAN NEUTROPHIL FUNCTIONS BY A MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODY DIRECTED AGAINST A 19-KDA ANTIGEN

A mouse IgG mAb termed P1C3 was raised against A23187-treated human peripheral blood neutrophils and has been shown to recognize an Ag with an apparent molecular mass of 19 kDa, herein named p19. This p19 Ag was weakly expressed at the cell surface of resting human peripheral blood neutrophils and monocytes, but its cell surface expression was dramatically increased upon activation of these cell types with different secretagogues, including FMLP, PMA, and the calcium ionophores A23187 and ionomycin. A large latent pool of p19 molecules became accessible by immunofluorescence flow cytometry after cell permeabilization of resting neutrophils. A practically total translocation of the intracellular pool of this p19 molecule to the plasma membrane was achieved under appropriate cell stimulation, which induced an almost total degranulation of neutrophil secretory granules. The p19 Ag was absent from platelets, PBL, as well as from the human promyelocytic cell line HL-60, the human promonocytic cell line U937, and the human lymphoid cell lines Daudi and Jurkat. The p19 Ag was also expressed by circulating and/or interstitial neutrophils and monocytes in distinct tissues examined. The mAb P1C3 was found to enhance several neutrophil responses, such as chemotaxis, cell adhesion, phagocytosis, and respiratory burst. These data indicate that the mAb P1C3 recognizes an intracellular Ag in human resting mature neutrophils and monocytes, which upon cell activation is translocated to the cell surface and is able to affect cell functionality.