S-100-positive T cells are largely restricted to a CD8-positive, 9.3-negative subset

Virchows Arch B Cell Pathol Incl Mol Pathol. 1987;53(5):301-7. doi: 10.1007/BF02890256.

Abstract

The present report concerns the demonstration of the exclusive detection among peripheral blood T-lymphocytes of the S-100 protein within the CD8-positive subpopulation which lacks the antigen recognized by the 9.3 monoclonal antibody. Highly purified human peripheral blood T-cell subsets, obtained by means of panning techniques, were first stained, by an immunofluorescence method, with purified anti-S-100 protein antibodies. The vast majority of S-100 protein- (and, specifically, its beta subunit) positive cells were detected in the CD8-positive, 9.3-negative subset. This subset had previously been shown to comprise all the alloantigen-specific and histamine-inducible suppressor T-cells. Other T-subsets, even those showing either CD8-positivity (but 9.3-positivity) or 9.3-negativity (but CD8-negativity), were, as a rule, S-100 negative. Immunoelectronmicroscopy confirmed that the S-100-positive cells, showing peroxidase activity within the cytoplasm, were found exclusively within the CD8-positive, 9.3-negative subset. This finding of S-100 protein in cells of a specific T8 suppressor subset extends the range of the known distribution of this protein and may have important implications concerning its role in the modulation of immune responses.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal*
  • Fluorescent Antibody Technique
  • Humans
  • Immunoenzyme Techniques
  • Microscopy, Electron
  • Rosette Formation
  • S100 Proteins / blood*
  • T-Lymphocytes / immunology*

Substances

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal
  • S100 Proteins