Immunologic competence of thoracic duct cells. I. Delayed hypersensitivity

Analysis of interleukin-2 activity in patients with Behçet's disease. Ability of T cells to produce and respond to interleukin-2

We examined interleukin-2 (IL-2) activity in patients with Behçet's disease. T cells from all patients with Behçet's disease were able to produce normal levels of IL-2 in response to phytohemagglutinin; however, responsiveness to IL-2 was impaired in their concanavalin A-activated lymphoblasts. This defect was due to decreased numbers of cells bearing IL-2 receptors in patients with early active disease; in patients with chronic active or with inactive disease, there was a decrease in density of IL-2 receptors on T cells bearing these receptors. Unresponsiveness of T cells to IL-2 may thus contribute to immunologic aberrations in Behçet's disease.

Expression of antibacterial resistance at the site of a delayed hypersensitivity reaction

The site of a delayed hypersensitivity reaction to tuberculin or bovine serum ablumin was shown to contain mechanisms that expressed increased antibacterial activity, as evidenced by restricted growth of a local inoculum of Listeria monocytogenes. As was the case with a delayed hypersensitivity reaction, the local generation of antibacterial activity was antigen specific and T-cell dependent. Antibacterial resistance was always expressed at the site of injection of specific antigen in sensitized mice, even though under certain circumstances there was no measurable increase in footpad thickness at this site. It thus appears that nonspecific antibacterial resistance represents a sensitive and quantitative method for measuring delayed hypersensitivity. More importantly, this study serves to provide a functional meaning for the delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction in that it demonstrates that such a reaction causes the focusing of mechanisms that can restrict the growth of bacteria at a site which may represent a source of microbial invasion.

The lymphocyte mediators of delayed hypersensitivity: the early phase cells

Inbred rats were immunized with living BCG and lymphocytes which mediate tuberculin DTH and anti-tuberculosis immunity were found 10 days later in the draining lymph nodes, thoracic duct, blood, spleen and acute peritoneal exudates. The lymphocytes that mediated DTH incorporated 3HT in vitro, were large in size, sensitive to vinblastine but relatively resistant to irradiation, and had a short effective lifespan in syngeneic recipients. These properties characterize the cells as short-lived, nonrecirculating immunoblasts. In some experimental situations it was possible to dissociate the expression of DTH and immunity following the transfer of sensitized lymphocytes.

Recurrent aphthous stomatitis: clinical characteristics and evidence for an immunopathogenesis

Recurrent aphthous stomatitis is one of the most common diseases affecting the oral mucosa, and one of its variants is the most painful affliction of the oral mucosa. The lesions of recurrent aphthous stomatitis can be manifested as part of a broad spectrum of clinical disease ranging from the common minor aphthous ulcers to Behçet's syndrome. Differential diagnosis, although not often difficult, must include many conditions capable of producing erosive and ulcerative oral mucosal lesions. The salient features of recurrent aphthous stomatitis suggest that it is a heterogeneous entity. Recent immunologic investigations have focused attention on a possible immunopathogenesis and the evidence for this is reviewed.

Histohogical and direct immunofluorescence study of cutaneous hyperreactivity in Behçet's disease

The mechanism of skin hyperreactivity (pathergy) in Behçet's disease is unknown. It has been suggested that the response is due to an Arthus-like reaction. In 18 patients with active Behcet's disease, pathergy was induced and the skin biopsied after 24 h. The histological reaction was that of mold to intense round cell infiltration. perivascular in type. Direct immunofluorescence failed in all 18 patients to demonstrate the local presence of immunoglobulins and complement at the site of lesion. A marked increase in the number of mast cells was observed at the site of reaction and scattered throughout the dermis, the role of which is to be further investigated. The study failed to demonstrate a humoral mechanism in the production of the cutaneous hyperactivity.

A stable form of delayed-type hypersensitivity

An antigen dose below the level needed to provoke an antibody response produces in mice a persistent, but minor degree of delayed-type hypersensitivity (dth) to sheep red blood cells. The DTH is unstable. It is erased by larger doses of antigen and cannot be built upon by further antigenic stimulation. The much higher levels of DTH resulting from immunization under the modulating influence of cyclophosphamide (CY) or BCG persist under strong secondary antigenic stimulation, though the former is subject to partial suppression unless CY is used to prevent the secondary humoral response. The DTH produced by a BCG-modulated primary response is not subject to this suppressive effect of a secondary antibody response. In this case the anamnestic T-cell response is very brisk and cannont be potentiated by giving CY at the time of the secondary antigenic stimulus. This effect is not due to the modulating influence of a residual BCG infection. It results from a permanent change induced during the primary response. The mediator cells formed under the influence of BCG are apparently resistant to inhibition by blocking serum containing immune complexes. Even the actively dividing T cells which are susceptible to vinblastine, and most readily blocked in the absence of BCG, are highly resistant to blocking by immune complexes. It is not clear whether these cells are intrinsically different or whether their insensitivity to blocking results from features peculiar to the humoral response that accompanies a BCG-modulated primary response. The mediator cells produced by both BCG- and CY-modulated responses become vinblastine resistant, relatively insensitive to humoral blocking factors, and capable of surviving in a functionally active form in syngeneic recipients with an apparent half-life of about 50 days. There were indications, however, that their effective life-span may be greatly extended in some circumstances by persisting antigenic stimulation; and in the case of BCG-modulated immunity the prevailing level of T-cell activity can be greatly augmented by a further antigenic stimulus without the necessity for renewed exposure to BCG.

Influence of dose and route of antigen injection on the immunological induction of T cells

Delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) develops in the absence of an adjuvant when mice are injected intravenously or subcutaneously with an appropriate dose of sheep red blood cells (SRBC). The optimal intravenous dose of 10(5) SRBC (in CD-1 mice) produces maximum DTH which decays exponentially from its peak on day 4. Increasing the dose of SRBC reduces and eventually abolishes all evidence of DTH. DTH fails to reappear in respose to secondary stimulation except in splenectomized mice in whom the development of DTH is not suppressed, even by massive doses of SRBC. Hence the suppression cannot be due to antigen as such. The optimal dose of SRBC for sensitization by footpad inoculation is 100-fold higher (10(7) SRBC in CD-1 mice), but even 10(9) SRBC do not block the induction of DTH by this route of immunization. A blocking dose of SRBC, given intravenously 1 day before footpad inoculation, completely suppresses cell proliferation in the draining lymph node, prevents PFC production there, and blocks the induction of DTH by a sensitizing dose of SRBC. If given 1 day after footpad sensitization, intravenous antigen has little effect on the cellular response in the regional node but DTH is still completely suppressed. Blocking of induction and expression may depend, therefore, on different mechanisms.

Specificity of a BCG-induced pulmonary granulomatous response in rabbits

The specificity of Bacillus Calmette Guérin (BCG)-induced accelerated pulmonary granuloma formation has been evaluated in rabbits by cross sensitization-challenge experiments by using another granulomagenic organism, Corynebacterium granulosum. BCG-sensitized rabbits responded to challenge with homologous but not heterologous antigen, indicating that BCG-induced accelerated granuloma formation displays specificity characteristic of immunological reactions. These differences were also observed in local pulmonary delayed hypersensitivity, as determined by the migration inhibition test. The relationship between local pulmonary delayed hypersensitivity and the accelerated granulomatous response is discussed.

Factors affecting transfer of experimental autoimmune thyroiditis in rats

Actively induced experimental autoimmune thyroiditis in inbred Lewis rats was comparable using standard Freund's complete adjuvant (FCA) and Perrin's modification of FCA. However, adoptively transferred disease using lymph node cells from rats immunized with Perrin's FCA was significantly more severe. With this adjuvant, and pertussis vaccine as co-adjuvant, transfer was uniformly successful when at least 480 × 10⁶ lymph node cells were taken 10 days after immunization and recipients were killed 3 days after transfer. Lymphocytic infiltrates were seen in recipient thyroids as early as 18 hours after transfer. Whole body irradiation of the recipients at 550 r reduced the severity of transferred disease. The frequency and severity of lesions were higher when the lymph node cells were first incubated with low doses of antigen. Thymectomy of the recipients decreased the severity of transferred disease. Under the conditions tested, transfer of disease could not be accomplished by antiserum alone, even using thyroidectomized donors. Administration of an early immune serum with sensitized lymph node cells significantly depressed the severity of transferred disease, while a late antiserum increased it.

Relationship of BCG-induced pulmonary delayed hypersensitivity to accelerated granuloma formation in rabbit lungs: effect of cortisone acetate

The role of local pulmonary delayed hypersensitivity in accelerated pulmonary granuloma formation was investigated using cortisone acetate, an immunosuppressive drug that appears to preferentially eliminate committed lymphocytes at appropriate doses. Data are presented showing that cortisone acetate suppressed local pulmonary delayed hypersensitivity at the time of and subsequent to challenge with BCG. Furthermore, cortisone damage appeared to involve primarily committed lymphocyte populations since the defect was repairable with sensitized spleen cells, an unlikely source of macrophage precursors.

The role of thymus and bone marrow cells in delayed hypersensitivity

Adoptive transfer experiments were performed to define the immunological role of thymus and bone marrow cells in the induction of delayed hypersensitivity (DH). The results indicated the following, (a) Bone marrow from immune donors contained cells capable of being stimulated by antigen to initiate the expression of DH. (b) Bone marrow from nonimmune or tolerant donors contained cells that were needed to complete the expression of DH after the infusion of immune lymph node cells. (c) Normal bone marrow and thymus cells cooperated in the irradiated recipient to induce the most vigorous skin reactions to specific antigen; these reactions were seen only when the recipients were stimulated by antigen. Either cell type alone was ineffective. (d) In the presence of tolerant bone marrow cells, thymus cells from immune donors gave a more vigorous response than did thymus cells from normal or tolerant donors. (e) There was suggestive evidence that thymus cells were the source of trigger elements that initiated DH. (f) Antigen in the irradiated recipient was necessary to induce DH after infusion of bone marrow cells alone, or bone marrow and thymus cells together.

A cellular deficit in the reconstitutive capacity of immune populations of lymphoid cells demonstrable in studies of delayed hypersensitivity in mice. Evidence for thymus-bone marrow cell synergism

A cell-transfer system was employed in the present work to investigate several characteristics of the capacity of immune and normal lymphoid cells to transfer the delayed response to methylated human serum albumin in lethally irradiated syngeneic recipients. Spleen cells derived from donor mice immunized with goose erythrocytes were far less effective in transferring responsiveness when compared with equal numbers of normal cells. Statistical analyses indicated a frequency of 1 reactive cell or cell unit in 1.3 x 10(7) normal cells and in 6.2 x 10(7) immune cells. These findings provided confirmatory evidence that antigen-induced suppression (antigenic competition) employing sequential administration of two non-cross-reacting antigens is due to relative deficits of immunocompetent cells generated by lymphoproliferation in lymphoid tissues secondary to immunization with the initial antigen. The cellular deficit in the immune population was shown to be resident in a thymus cell population, which restored the number of responders to a level equivalent to the normal population. The thymic cell was akin to the antigen-reactive cell. The cell limiting the degree of response, that is the effector cell for both normal and immune cell populations, was of bone marrow origin. Both populations of cells were shown to act in synergy to reconstitute the delayed response to the antigen.

Synergy among lymphoid cells mediating the graft-versus-host response. II. Synergy in graft-versus-host reactions produced by Balb-c lymphoid cells of differing anatomic origin

The capacity of cells from different lymphoid tissues obtained from Balb/c mice to produce graft-vs.-host (GVH) reactions was quantitatively determined in C57BL/6N by Balb/c F(1) hybrid recipients. Synergistic responses were observed when small numbers of cells from lymphoid tissues that were rich in GVH activity such as spleen and femoral lymph node were combined with weakly reactive thymus cells. Thymus and spleen cells obtained from 1-wk old mice were separately inactive but produced moderate GVH reactions when combined in equal proportions. GVH activity of spleen cells from mice thymectomized at 3 days of age was partially restored by the addition of small numbers of spleen or thymus cells from adult mice. Changes in ratio between the two cell populations markedly affected the degree of synergy. Synergy was not observed when Balb/c cells were combined with Balb/c x C57BL/6N F(1) hybrid cells and inoculated into C57BL/6N recipients, but was demonstrated when Balb/c and C57BL/6N cells were combined and inoculated into F(1) recipients, indicating that a genetic disposition to mount GVH reactions in both populations is required to produce synergy. The data indicate that at least two cell types are necessary for GVH reactions, and that synergy between cell populations results from favorable adjustments in the ratio between these two cell types.

The cellular immune response to primary sarcomata in rats. I. The significance of large basophilic cells in the thoracic duct lymph following antigenic challenge

The cell population in the thoracic duct lymph in specific-pathogen-free rats has been studied following challenge with sheep red cells, B.C.G., fhiorodinitrobenzene, a homograft and a syngeneic tumour where the stimulus was the antigen specific to the tumour. In every case the number of large basophilic lymphocytes— referred to as immunoblasts— in the lymph increased about 3 days after challenge and returned to normal by 10 days. Immunization below the diaphragm gave rise to a greater increase in the number of immunoblasts than immunization above the diaphragm as was to be expected on the assumption that the immunoblasts are released from the antigenically stimulated nodes. From nodes below the diaphragm but not from those above, such cells have to pass through the thoracic duct before entering the blood. The majority of the immunoblasts do not recirculate from the blood to the lymph. The appearance in the thoracic duct of immunoblasts can be used as a measure of the immunological reactivity of the host, whether or not antibody formation and delayed type hyper sensitivity reactions are demonstrable.

Cellular hypersensitivity and cellular immunity in the pathogensis of tuberculosis: specificity, systemic and local nature, and associated macrophage enzymes

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A study of the passive transfer of delayed hypersensitivity to DNP-poly-L-lysine and DNP-GL in responder and nonresponder guinea pigs

A study of the passive transfer of delayed hypersensitivity to DNP-poly-L-lysine and to DNP-GL was performed in Hartley guinea pigs. Delayed hypersensitivity to DNP-PLL and DNP-GL could be transferred successfully only by means of sensitized cells from genetic responder guinea pigs and in most cases, only into those guinea pigs genetically capable of responding to PLL. The inability to transfer delayed hypersensitivity to DNP-PLL or DNP-GL to genetic nonresponder guinea pigs is not the result of the early destruction of the transferred cells by an incompatible host, since it was shown that delayed hypersensitivity to ovalbumin could be successfully transferred from guinea pigs with the PLL gene into genetic nonresponder animals. The requirement of active participation of specific and genetically controlled host mechanisms in the successful passive transfer of delayed sensitivity to DNP-PLL and DNP-GL has been demonstrated.

An electron microscopic study of leukocyte emigration and vascular permeability in tuberculin sensitivity

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