Accessory function of human glioma cells for the induction of CD3-mediated T cell proliferation: a potential role of glial cells in T cell activation in the central nervous system

Abstract

Accessory function of human glial cells for the induction of anti-CD3 antibody-mediated proliferation of T cells was investigated by using seven glioma cell lines. Three of them were found to function as accessory cells and one of them, U118, was used for further analysis. U118 cells showed the cell-contact-mediated accessory function for T cell proliferation. It was found that protein synthesis was required to reveal this function, suggesting that some surface molecules are synthesized and expressed on U118 cells during interaction with T cells to mediate effective signals in T cells. Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 seemed to be one of such inducible molecules and was shown to contribute to effective accessory cell-T cell interaction, but necessity of other molecule(s) was also suggested.