Inducible macrophage cytotoxins. II. Tumor lysis mechanism involving target cell-binding proteases.

Thioglycollate-elicited C57BL/6 peritoneal exudate macrophage monolayers (PEMM) stimulated with poly I . poly C or LPS released a macrophage cytotoxin (MCT) that rapidly bound to syngeneic (EL 4) or allogeneic (NS-1, YAC-1) tumor cells but did not bind to normal splenocytes. No binding to human (K562) tumor cells was observed. PEMM stimulated with poly I . poly C destroyed allogeneic tumor cells (NS-1) when separated by cell-impermeable Millipore filters in vitro; in contrast, PEMM not stimulated with poly I . poly C were incapable of lysing targets when separated by membranes. The reversible inhibitors N alpha-p-tosyl-L-arginine methyl ester and soybean trypsin inhibitor and the irreversible inhibitors N alpha-p-tosyl-L-lysine chloromethyl ketone and phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, of trypsin-like proteases, significantly or totally inhibited MCT cell-lytic activity for L-929 cells in vitro. Furthermore, modification of MCT-associated arginine residues by 1,2-cyclohexanedione completely blocked lytic activity. MCT was concluded to be an inducible nonspecific cell-lytic effector molecule elaborated by activated macrophages, which could bind to potential target cells, and was itself or was associated with a protease

Monoclonal Antibody-Based Competitive Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay for Detection of Morbillivirus Antibody in Marine Mammal Sera

A competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA), using two monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), was developed and compared with the standard virus neutralization test (VNT) for detecting antibodies against canine distemper virus (CDV) and phocine distemper virus (PDV) in sera from dogs and various species of marine mammals. The test depends on the blocking of MAb binding to solid-phase antigen in the presence of positive serum. Test conditions were optimized by using control VNT-negative and -positive sera specific for CDV and PDV. A positive cutoff value of 30% inhibition, which represents the mean cutoff of a VNT-negative population (n = 623) plus 2 standard deviations, was adopted for the test. A total of 736 serum samples were tested by the new cELISA and by the VNT as the “gold standard.” An unexpected but useful finding was the ability of this CDV- and PDV-specific cELISA to also detect antibodies against the related pair dolphin morbillivirus and porpoise morbillivirus. Based on a subpopulation of 625 sera used in statistical analyses, the overall sensitivity and specificity of cELISA relative to those of the VNT were 94.9 and 97.7%, respectively. Because the cELISA proved to be nearly as sensitive and specific as the VNT while being simpler and more rapid, it would be an adequate screening test for suspect CDV or PDV cases and would also be useful for epidemiological surveillance of morbilliviral infections in marine mammal populations