Cytofluorometric analyses of human T cell CD2/CD4 inter-molecular interactions

Incubation of human T lymphocytes with saturating concentrations of combinations of certain anti-CD2 and -CD4 mAb results in reciprocal down-regulation of the cell surface density expression of the respective CD molecules. Such reciprocal down-regulation occurs at 0°C in the presence of sodium azide and appears selective for CD2 and CD4 molecules because mAb identifying various other CD T cell surface molecules (anti-Leu2a, -OK-CLL, -W6/32, -β₂-microglobulin, -4B4) do not modulate CD2 or CD4 R density, and because anti-CD2 mAb (anti-OKT11 and -D66 clone-1) do not alter CD8 R density (anti-OKT8, -Leu2a) and vice versa. Down-regulation of CD2 by mAb specific to CD4 is epitope-specific but does not vary on the basis of the antibody isotype used. The anti-CD4 mAb, Leu3a, was the strongest CD2 down-regulator examined followed by OKT4F. mAb specific to other CD4 epitopes (B, C, D, and E) caused only slight down-regulation of CD2 expression whereas anti-OKT4 and -OKT4A mAb had no significant regulatory effect. Also, mAb specific to the 9.6 (anti-OKT11) and D66 (anti-D66 clone 1) epitopes of the CD2 molecule down-regulated CD4 density detectable with Leu3a, OKT4, and OKT4a anti-CD4 mAb. Down-regulation of CD2 by anti-CD4 mAb also occurred with the transformed T cell line, KE-37, which demonstrates that such effects can occur without mononuclear phagocytic accessory cells. From these data it can be concluded that important T cell immunoregulatory signals may be transmitted intramembranally between CD2 and CD4 glycoproteins.