Antigen Presentation In Vitro by a Murine Macrophage Cell Line

Macrophages have been shown to play a central role in the elicitation of immune responses. One of their multiple functions is the presentation of antigen in a proper form to naive or immune T cells. The biochemical steps involved in this process are not well understood. The availability of a macrophage cell line capable of supporting an antigen-driven T cell proliferation would certainly aid in the elucidation of the biochemical and cellular requirements for antigen presentation. To this purpose, the murine macrophage cell line IC-21 was tested to see whether or not it was capable of presenting soluble and particulate antigens.