Up-regulation of interleukin 4/B-cell stimulatory factor 1 receptor expression.

The expression of interleukin 4 (IL-4) receptors on resting T and B lymphocytes was enhanced 4- to 8-fold by IL-4 stimulation of these cells. Other agents such as lipopolysaccharide and anti-IgM for B cells and concanavalin A for T cells also caused increased IL-4 receptor expression, although to a somewhat smaller degree than IL-4. Using a newly developed flow cytometric analysis based on the binding of biotinylated IL-4 and phycoerythrin-streptavidin, it was observed that receptor up-regulation in a T-cell population treated with IL-4 was a feature of the majority of the T cells. Analysis of IL-4 by cross-linkage of 125I-labeled IL-4 to IL-4 receptor with disuccinimidyl suberate indicated that the IL-4-IL-4 receptor complex was the same size in the resting and up-regulated cells, implying that the same receptor species found in resting cells was up-regulated in response to IL-4.