Reconstitution of murine resident peritoneal macrophages for antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity by homologous serum Clq

Abstract

Mouse resident peritoneal macrophages (PM) were reconstituted in their response to activation for antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) for sheep erythrocyte targets (SRBC) by subhemolytic dilutions of homologous or autologous sera. ADCC-responsive inflammatory PM were largely unaffected in their activation by exogenous serum. Augmentation of resident PM for ADCC by homologous serum was correlated with the complement-activating potential of the mouse monoclonal anti-SRBC IgG isotype in that serum augmented IgGγ2a > IgGγ2b ⪢ IgGγ1. The active component of mouse serum was heat-labile at 56 °C for 30 min and was present in both C5-deficient AKR and C5-sufficient homologous C3H mouse sera. Western blot analysis of the cell lysates for Clq confirmed that oil-elicited and thioglycollate-elicited inflammatory PM had greater levels of endogenous Clq than did resident PM which correlated with their innate responsiveness for ADCC activation. Depletion of Clq from serum by immunoprecipitation with IgG antibody to Clq or by ion exchange chromatography removed the active reconstituting activity for ADCC. Purified mouse Clq (0.4 μg) partially replenished the ADCC augmenting activity of Clq-depleted AKR mouse serum. SRBC targets preopsonized with IgGγ2a and purified mouse Clq (0.075–5.0 μg/ml) fully reconstituted the ADCC response of resident PM similar to homologous serum indicating that the major active component of serum was Clq. Thus resident PM with low endogenous levels of Clq were reconstituted for ADCC by the addition of exogenous Clq, whereas inflammatory PM with sufficiently high endogenous levels of Clq were not further enhanced by exogenous Clq. Our findings indicate that Clq may provide an essential second signal in concert with Fc receptor binding of IgG to initiate ADCC activation of macrophages.