Effect of Rose Bengal on immunoglobulin production by mouse B lymphoma, WEHI-279 cells

Effect of Rose Bengal (RB) on immunoglobulin (Ig) production by mouse B lymphoma WEHI-279 cells was examined. At 100 mu M, RB increased IgE concentration in the culture medium but decreased the levels of IgG and IgM. To examine whether RB affect to the secretion of IgE from WEHI-279 cells or its synthesis, intracellular and extracellular Ig levels were compared. Cytoplasmic IgE level in the cells treated with 100 mu M RB was higher than in the cells cultured without RB. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) experiment showed that the level of productive epsilon transcripts of RB-added group was higher than that of control but RB did not affect germ-line epsilon transcripts. These results suggested that RB enhancement of IgE was due to the increase of the Ig synthesis by WEHI-279 cells, neither to the increase of secretion activity of Ig from the cells nor to the enhancement of class-switching to IgE producing cell.