Spontaneous internalization of IVIg in activated B cells

Previous work from our laboratory showed that IVIg could directly influence the fate of human B cells by inducing their differentiation. The initial goal of the present study was to identify the cell surface molecules recognized by IVIg on human B cells. Purified resting and CD40-activated human B cells were incubated with IVIg and lysed prior to immunoprecipitation. The immunoprecipitated proteins were identified by mass spectrometry (LC–MS). This analysis revealed that BCR, as well as other cell surface receptors or membrane associated proteins were the main targets of IVIg. Surprisingly, intracellular proteins were also found in the immunoprecipitates, suggesting that IVIg could penetrate inside living cells and interact with intracellular targets. We have further studied this unexpected phenomenon and obtained evidence indicating that a significant amount of IVIg was spontaneously internalized inside living cells. We showed that IVIg internalization could occur in a BCR- and FcγR-independent pathway. Furthermore, spontaneous IVIg internalization was also observed in whole blood incubated with therapeutic concentrations of IVIg, even in presence of the high endogenous IgG concentration. These observations first suggest that spontaneous internalization can occur in IVIg-treated patients and also that some of the observed alterations in the physiology of IVIg-treated cells may not be only dependent on extracellular interactions of IVIg with cell surface receptors or soluble plasma proteins but may also involve intracellular interactions.