Constitutive antigen presentation by mouse splenic macrophages is restricted to the progeny of a distinct progenitor population

Abstract

Mouse splenic macrophage progenitors differ in their ability to give rise to cloned progeny that constitutively present complex protein antigens to T-cell hybridomas. To determine if the constitutive presentation of diverse antigens is restricted to cells derived from the same subpopulation of progenitors, we expanded macrophage clones into multiple subcultures and compared them for the ability to present different antigens to their respective antigen-specific T-cell hybridomas. Only subcultures derived from the same minority fraction of splenic macrophage progenitors were capable of constitutively presenting the antigens, and the activity of these subcultures was unaffected by the addition of recombinant murine IFN-γ. This suggests that a specialized sub-population of constitutive antigen-presenting macrophages exists in the spleens of mice.