Activated T cells induce synthesis of pro–IL-1β without secretion.

(A, B) DCs untreated (−, lane 1) or loaded with tetox for 16 hours (lanes 2 to 5) were incubated 8 hours alone (lanes 1 and 2) or in the presence of autologous antitetox T lymphocytes (+Ttetox, lane 3) or autologous antidermatophagoides T lymphocytes (+Tdph, lane 4) or with autologous resting T cells (+Tresting, lane 5) at a T-cell:DC ratio of 10:1. At the end of the incubation, cell lysates (A) and supernatants (B) were analyzed for their content in IL-1β by Western blotting. (C-E) Autologous specific (antitetox; ○) or aspecific (anti-dph; ▪) T lymphocytes were coincubated with tetox-loaded DCs for 8 hours at T-cell:DC ratios varying from 0.5:1 to 10:1. DC intracellular pro–IL-1β was analyzed by Western blotting and quantitated by densitometry.