Specific response of human lymphocytes to pollen antigen in tissue culture

Abstract

Human peripheral lymphocytes of 27 timothy-sensitive individuals were cultured for ten days in the presence of 15 μg protein nitrogen per milliliter of timothy pollen antigen. Approximately 25 per cent transformation to blastlike cells occurred, compared with 2.5 per cent in the absence of antigen and 2.2 per cent for cells of nonsensitive individuals cultured with antigen. The response was not significantly changed with hyposensitization treatment. No evidence for specific skin-sensitizing antibody production was found, and none of the three immunoglobulins was detected free or on the cultured cells.