Activation of distinct subsets of T suppressor cells with type III pneumococcal polysaccharide coupled to syngeneic spleen cells

Transfer of T or CD8+ cells from hemorrhaged mice produce alterations in bacterial antigen specific plasma cell repertoires in normal syngeneic recipients

Hemorrhage has multiple effects on immunologic response, including alteration of B cell repertoires and T cell function. This study examined possible relationships between these two phenomena by determining the effects of T cells and T cell subsets transferred from hemorrhaged donors into normal, unhemorrhaged syngeneic recipients on B cell repertoires. Mice given total T or CD8+ cells from hemorrhaged animals then immunized with the bacterial polysaccharide antigen levan had a decreased percentage of plasma cells producing antibody to levan compared to that in mice given T or CD8+ cells from unhemorrhaged animals. These effects of post hemorrhage CD8+ cells were not seen after transfer into nu/nu mice, indicating that these cells did not directly affect B cell function, but rather required other T cell populations in order to alter the B cell repertoire. These results demonstrate that hemorrhage-induced alterations in bacterial antigen specific B cell repertoires may result from T and CD8+ cell mediated changes in T-B interactions.

Tubular antigen-derivatized cells induce a disease-protective, antigen-specific, and idiotype-specific suppressor T cell network restricted by I-J and Igh-V in mice with experimental interstitial nephritis

The nephritogenic effector T cell response producing interstitial nephritis in mice can be largely inhibited by the adoptive transfer of suppressor T cells before or after the induction of disease. These suppressor T cells are harvested from donor mice primed with tubular antigen-derivatized syngeneic lymphocytes, and two subsets of suppressor cells can be characterized within this donor cell population. The first suppressor cell in this network is an L3T4+, I-J+, RE-Id+ cell (Ts-1). Ts-1 cells are antigen-binding suppressor cells that inhibit afferent phase immune responses and, in the presence of tubular antigen, specifically induce Lyt-2+, I-J+ cells (Ts-2) that are antiidiotypic (RE-Id-binding) suppressors. The Ts-2 cell is functionally restricted in its suppressive effect by I-J and Igh-V gene products, and acts on the effector limb of the cell-mediated anti-tubular basement membrane immune response. These studies provide an experimental basis for further efforts to use immunoregulatory modulation in the control of autoimmune renal disease.

Regulation of the antibody response to type III pneumococcal polysaccharide by contrasuppressor T cells

A soluble membrane component of type III pneumococcal polysaccharide-coupled spleen cells (S3-SCSM) induces S3-specific suppressor T cells (Ts) in mice. These Ts can be detected only if mice are pretreated with cyclophosphamide (Cy) or if cells adherent to the lectin Vicia villosa are removed from the spleen cell population prior to transfer. The V. villosa-adherent spleen cells from mice injected with S3-SCSM could abrogate suppression mediated by Ts induced by S3-SCSM in Cy-treated mice. The V. villosa-adherent contrasuppressor cells were shown to be T cells that were I-J+ and of the Lyt-1 phenotype. Contrasuppressor T cells (Tcs) were not present in V. villosa-adherent spleen cell fractions obtained from normal mice, from mice injected with polyvinylpyrrolidone-coupled spleen cells, or from Cy-treated mice injected with S3-SCSM, i.e., mice in which Ts activity is dominant. The V. villosa-adherent cells that abrogated the activity of Ts induced by S3-SCSM in Cy-treated mice did not abrogate suppression mediated by a different subset of S3-specific Ts, suggesting that the Tcs described here do not have activity against all Ts subsets. The ability of S3-SCSM to activate Tcs in normal mice provides an explanation for the inability to detect S3-specific Ts in several previous studies.