Abstract
A method has been described for maintenance of human monocytes in culture for up to six months. The cells synthesize and secrete the second (C2) and third (C3) components of complement and lysozyme, phagocytose latex beads, rosette with IgG or C3 coated erythrocytea, and kill L. monocytogenes.
Monocytes from two unrelated C3 deficient patients, one of whom has been described (J. Clin. Invest. 56, 703, 1975), were examined in culture. Serum from each of the patients contained less than 1% of the normal C3 concentration (not due to hypercatabolism) but monocytes from each produced C3 at approximately 25% of the normal rate when studied after two weeks in vitro. The C3 produced in vitro by monocytes from one of the patients was shown to have the molecular weight of normal serum C3 and to dissociate appropriately under reducing conditions. Monocytes from C3 deficient patients could not be distinguished from normals on the basis of morphology, resetting with C3 coated erythrocytes, or rates of C2 and total protein synthesis. The ability of monocytes from C3 deficient patients to produce C3 in vitro is in contrast to studies of monocytes from C2 deficient humans and macrophages from C4 deficient guinea pigs in which specific biosynthetic defects for C2 and C4, respectively, persisted in vitro.
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Einstein, L., Hansen, P., Alper, C. et al. MONOCYTES FROM PATIENTS WITH GENETIC DEFICIENCY OF THE THIRD COMPONENT OF COMPLEMENT (C3) PRODUCE C3 IN VITRO. Pediatr Res 11, 486 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197704000-00696
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197704000-00696