Cell cooperation in coelomocyte cytotoxic activity of Paracentrotus lividus coelomocytes

The coelomic fluid from the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus contains several coelomocyte types including amoebocytes and uncoloured spherulocytes involved in immune defences. In the present paper, we show a Ca2+-dependent cytotoxic activity for the unfractionated coelomocytes assayed in vitro, with rabbit erythrocytes and the K562 tumour cell line. In a plaque-forming assay, whole coelomocyte preparations as well as density gradient separated coelomocyte populations revealed that cell populations enriched in uncoloured spherulocytes, exerted high cytotoxic activity by releasing lysins in the presence of amoebocytes. This cooperative effect could be dependent on soluble factors released by amoebocytes. With regard to this, we show that an enhanced cytotoxic activity was found by adding the supernatant from sonicated amoebocytes or hemocyte culture medium into spherulocyte preparations.