CELL-TO-CELL INTERACTION IN THE IMMUNE RESPONSE : VIII. RADIOSENSITIVITY OF THYMUS-DERIVED LYMPHOCYTES

The helper function of carrier-primed T cells was found to be radiosensitive in vivo. The results could not be attributed to interference with the spleen-seeking properties of the irradiated cells. It is suggested that T cell division is essential for the induction of 7S antibody responses in vivo.     

CELL-TO-CELL INTERACTION IN THE IMMUNE RESPONSE : VII. REQUIREMENT FOR DIFFERENTIATION OF THYMUS-DERIVED CELLS

Experiments were designed to test the possibility that thymus-derived (T) cells cooperate with nonthymus derived (B) cells in antibody responses by acting as passive carriers of antigen. Thoracic duct lymphocytes (TDL) from fowl γG-tolerant mice were incubated in vitro with fowl anti-mouse lymphocyte globulin (FALG), which was shown not to be immunosuppressive in mice. On transfer into adult thymectomized, irradiated, and marrow protected (TxBM) hosts together with a control antigen, horse RBC, a response to horse RBC but not to fowl γG was obtained. By contrast, TxBM recipients of nontolerant, FALG-coated TDL responded to both antigens and the antibody-forming cells were shown to be derived from the host, not from the injected TDL. These findings suggested that, under the conditions of the experiment, triggering of unprimed B cells in the spleens of TxBM hosts was not achieved with antigen-coated tolerant lymphocytes. Another model utilized the ability of B cells to bind antibody-antigen complexes. Spleen cells from TxBM mice, incubated in vitro with anti-fowl γG-fowl γG·NIP, were injected with or without normal TDL (a source of T cells) into irradiated hosts. Only mice given both cell types could produce an anti-NIP antibody response. In a further experiment, spleen cells from HGG·NIP-primed mice were injected together with NIP-coated B cells (prepared as above) into irradiated hosts. A substantial anti-NIP antibody response occurred. If, however, the T cells in the spleens of HGG·NIP-primed mice were eliminated by treatment with anti-θ serum and complement, the NIP response was abolished. It was concluded that antigen-coated B cells could not substitute for T cells either in the primary or secondary response. Treatment of T cells from unprimed or primed mice with mitomycin C impaired their capacity to collaborate with B cells on transfer into irradiated hosts. Taken together these findings suggest that before collaboration can take place T cells must be activated by antigen to differentiate and in so doing may produce some factor essential for triggering of B cells.     

CELL-TO-CELL INTERACTION IN THE IMMUNE RESPONSE : VI. CONTRIBUTION OF THYMUS-DERIVED CELLS AND ANTIBODY-FORMING CELL PRECURSORS TO IMMUNOLOGICAL MEMORY

Collaboration between thymus-derived lymphocytes and nonthymus-derived antibody-forming cell precursors occurs in the primary antibody response of mice to heterologous erythrocytes and serum proteins. The purpose of the experiments reported here was to determine whether collaboration took place in an adoptive secondary antibody response. A chimeric population of lymphocytes was produced by reconstituting neonatally thymectomized CBA mice soon after birth with (CBA x C57BL)F₁ thymus lymphocytes. These mice could be effectively primed to fowl immunoglobulin G (FγG) and their thoracic duct lymphocytes adoptively transferred memory responses to irradiated mice. The activity of these cells was impaired markedly by preincubation with CBA anti-C57BL serum and to a lesser extent by anti-θ-serum. Reversal of this deficiency was obtained by adding T cells in the form of thoracic duct cells from normal CBA mice. Cells from FγG-primed mice were at least 10 times as effective as cells from normal mice or from CBA mice primed to horse erythrocytes. These results were considered to support the concept that memory resides in the T cell population and that collaboration between T and B cells is necessary for an optimal secondary antibody response. Poor antibody responses were obtained in irradiated mice given mixtures of thoracic duct cells from primed mice and of B cells from unprimed mice (in the form of spleen or thoracic duct cells from thymectomized donors). In contrast to the situation with T cells, the deficiency in the B cell population could not be reversed by adding B cells from unprimed mice. It was considered that memory resides in B cells as well as in T cells and that priming probably entails a change in the B cell population which is fundamentally different from that produced in the T cell population.     

THE PRIMARY IMMUNE RESPONSE IN MICE : I. THE ENHANCEMENT AND SUPPRESSION OF HEMOLYSIN PRODUCTION BY A BACTERIAL ENDOTOXIN

The manner in which a single injection of S. typhosa endotoxin effects the primary hemolysin response to sheep erythrocytes in the mouse has been shown to depend on the dosage, route, and time of administration of the endotoxin, as well as on the route employed for the injection of antigen. The normal production of antibody, following an intravenous or an intraperitoneal injection of red blood cells, is suppressed if the bacterial lipopolysaccharide is given before and by the same route as the antigen. The response to an intraperitoneal injection of sheep red cells is also inhibited if preceded by an intravenous injection of endotoxin. By contrast, hemolysin formation to intravenous antigen is enhanced considerably by a previous intraperitoneal injection of endotoxin, and the response both to intravenous and to intraperitoneal injections of the antigen increases if the endotoxin is given by the same route either simultaneously or shortly after the foreign red cells. These findings are discussed in regard to the physiological action of bacterial endotoxins and the early events in antibody formation.     

IMMUNE RESPONSES IN VITRO : II. SUPPRESSION OF THE IMMUNE RESPONSE IN VITRO BY SPECIFIC ANTIBODY

The effects of hyperimmune anti-sheep erythrocyte (SRBC) antibody on the plaque-forming cell (PFC) response to SRBC by mouse spleen cells in vitro were studied. Anti-SRBC antibody specifically suppressed the PFC response against SRBC. The degree of suppression was directly related to the amount of antibody added and was overcome by large amounts of antigen. Suppressive activity was absorbed from the sera by SRBC and could be partially eluted from the antigen by heat. The PFC response in cultures stimulated with antigen-antibody complexes prepared with high concentrations of antibody were suppressed; however, some complexes prepared at lower antibody concentrations stimulated greater responses than SRBC alone. Antibodies collected after four immunizations had greater suppressive ability than those collected after two immunizations. The degree of suppression was as great whether antibody was added at the initiation of the cultures or 24 hr later, suggesting that during the first 24 hr the culture system was antigen-dependent. Incubation of separated lymphoid cells with antibody did not impair their ability to develop a PFC response in vitro. However, if macrophages were incubated with antibody either before or after incubation with SRBC, the subsequent PFC response by lymphoid cells was suppressed. The data are consistent with the conclusion that antibody suppresses the PFC response in vitro by neutralizing the antigenic stimulus at the macrophage-dependent phase of the response.     

MATURATION OF THE HUMORAL IMMUNE RESPONSE IN MICE

In spite of the prenatal appearance of immunoglobulin-bearing lymphocytes and θ-positive lymphocytes in the spleens of Swiss-L mice, these mice are not able to produce detectable levels of humoral antibodies in response to antigen until after 1 wk of age. Adult levels of response are not achieved until 4–8 wk of age. In the presence of bacterial lipopolysaccharides, which can substitute for or enhance T-cell function, the B cells from young Swiss-L mice were found to be indistinguishable in function from adult B cells, both with respect to the numbers of plaque-forming cells (PFC) produced in vitro in response to antigen and with respect to the kinetics of PFC induction. The spleen cells from young Swiss-L mice are significantly less sensitive than adult spleen cells, however, to stimulation by the T cell mitogens, concanavalin A (Con A) and phytohemagglutinin (PHA). Very few Con A-responsive cells could be detected at birth but the numbers increased sharply with age until 3 wk after birth. On the other hand, PHA-responsive cells could not be detected in the spleen until about 3 wk of age. The latter cells were found to respond also to Con A, but at a lower dose (1 µg/ml) than that required for the bulk of the Con A-responsive cells (3 µg/ml). The cells that respond both to PHA and to Con A appear in the spleen at about the time that Swiss-L mice acquire the ability to produce humoral antibodies, and these cells can be depleted from the spleen by the in vivo administration of antithymocyte serum. The development of humoral immune responses in these mice therefore appears to be correlated with the appearance of recirculating T lymphocytes that are responsive both to PHA and to Con A.     

CELLS INVOLVED IN THE IMMUNE RESPONSE : XI. IDENTIFICATION OF THE ANTIGEN-REACTIVE CELL AS THE TOLERANT CELL IN THE IMMUNOLOGICALLY TOLERANT RABBIT

Rabbits were made immunologically tolerant to either human serum albumin or bovine gamma globulin by the neonatal administration of antigen. At 10 wk of age, they were challenged with the tolerogenic antigen and found to be non-responsive. However, these tolerant rabbits could respond with humoral antibody formation directed toward the tolerogenic antigen if they were treated with normal, allogeneic bone marrow or bone marrow obtained from a rabbit made tolerant toward a different antigen. They were incapable of responding if they were given bone marrow obtained from a rabbit previously made tolerant to the tolerogenic antigen. Irradiated rabbits were unable to respond if treated with tolerant bone marrow, but could respond well if given normal bone marrow. Since it has previously been demonstrated that the antibody-forming cell, in an irradiated recipient of allogeneic bone marrow, is of recipient and not donor origin, the data presented strongly indicate that the unresponsive cell in the immunologically tolerant rabbit is the antigen-reactive cell.     

RESTORATION OF IMMUNE COMPETENCE IN TOLERANT MICE BY PARABIOSIS TO NORMAL MICE

These studies demonstrate that mice tolerant to human gamma globulin (HGG) regain their ability to make antibody to HGG after parabiosis to normal mice. This can be demonstrated by enumeration of PFC in the spleens of both the normal and tolerant partners. Hemagglutinin titers of normal-tolerant parabionts, however, are exceptionally low; serum antibody appears to be neutralized by circulating HGG present originally in the serum of the tolerant partner. These data support the hypothesis that tolerance to HGG in mice is a "defective" state due to the absence of cells capable of responding to this antigen.     

INHIBITION OF A T-CELL-DEPENDENT IMMUNE RESPONSE IN VITRO BY THYMOMA CELL IMMUNOGLOBULIN

Concentrated medium obtained from cultures of a continuous thymus-derived mouse lymphoma cell line (WEHI-22.1) was found to inhibit a T-cell-dependent (antidonkey red blood cell), but not a T-cell-independent (anti-DNP) immune response in vitro. Passage of such a concentrate through an anti-mouse Ig immunoadsorbent column removed its inhibitory activity. It is suggested that the tumor cell Ig can compete with specific normal T-cell Ig in its collaborative function in immune responses. A similar mechanism may account for anergy associated with some human lymphoid neoplasms.     

ANTIBODY-MEDIATED SUPPRESSION OF THE IMMUNE RESPONSE IN VITRO : I. EVIDENCE FOR A CENTRAL EFFECT

Antibody-mediated suppression of the in vitro immune response to polymerized flagellin of Salmonella adelaide and to sheep erythrocytes was studied at the cellular level. Normal mouse spleen cells, preincubated in vitro with mixtures of antigen and antibody for short periods of time before being washed, did not respond to an optimal antigenic challenge in vitro, whereas similar cells treated with antibody alone gave a normal response. The degree of immune suppression was found to depend on the time of preincubation. Significant immune suppression could be induced in as short a time as 15 min, whereas profound suppression (90%) required the incubation of cells with mixtures of antigen and antibody for 4–6 hr. Mouse spleen cells treated similarly were also unable to respond subsequently to the antigen upon transfer to lethally irradiated hosts, as measured at both the level of the antigen-reactive cell and that of serum antibody production. These results were taken as evidence that in vitro an effect of antibody-mediated suppression occurred at the level of the immunocompetent cell. Similarities between immune tolerance and antibody-mediated suppression in vitro were described, and the significance of the findings discussed in the light of current concepts of the mechanism of antibody-mediated suppression.     

CELL TO CELL INTERACTION IN THE IMMUNE RESPONSE : I. HEMOLYSIN-FORMING CELLS IN NEONATALLY THYMECTOMIZED MICE RECONSTITUTED WITH THYMUS OR THORACIC DUCT LYMPHOCYTES

An injection of viable thymus or thoracic duct lymphocytes was absolutely essential to enable a normal or near-normal 19S liemolysin-forming cell response in the spleens of neonatally thymectomized mice challenged with sheep erythrocytes. Syngeneic thymus lymphocytes were as effective as thoracic duct lymphocytes in this system and allogeneic or semiallogeneic cells could also reconstitute their hosts. No significant elevation of the response was achieved by giving either bone marrow cells, irradiated thymus or thoracic duct cells, thymus extracts or yeast. Spleen cells from reconstituted mice were exposed to anti-H2 sera directed against either the donor of the thymus or thoracic duct cells, or against the neonatally thymectomized host. Only isoantisera directed against the host could significantly reduce the number of hemolysin-forming cells present in the spleen cell suspensions. It is concluded that these antibody-forming cells are derived, not from the inoculated thymus or thoracic duct lymphocytes, but from the host. Thoracic duct cells from donors specifically immunologically tolerant of sheep erythrocytes had a markedly reduced restorative capacity in neonatally thymectomized recipients challenged with sheep erythrocytes. These results have suggested that there are cell types, in thymus or thoracic duct lymph, with capacities to react specifically with antigen and to induce the differentiation, to antibody-forming cells, of hemolysin-forming cell precursors derived from a separate cell line present in the neonatally thymectomized hosts.     

ANTIGEN-BINDING CELLS IN MICE IMMUNE OR TOLERANT TO ESCHERICHIA COLI POLYSACCHARIDE

The number of PFC and of RFC was studied in mice which were unimmunized, immunized, or tolerant against lipopolysaccharide of E. coli 055:B5 origin. The number of PFC/10⁶ spleen cells increased from 0.5 in normal to 209 in immunized mice. The corresponding figures for RFC were 93 and 513 RFC/10⁶ spleen cells. In tolerant animals, which contained few or no PFC, the number of RFC was increased as compared to that found in unimmunized mice. The formation of rosettes was specific, since their formation was inhibited by soluble coli polysaccharide and by rabbit antisera against mouse immunoglobulins. The antigen-binding cells were not derived from thymus, neither in immune or tolerant mice, because they did not carry the theta antigen. It is suggested that the majority of antigen-binding cells present in tolerant animals are cells having receptors for the antigen of rather low affinity. The relevance of these findings for the induction of high and low zone tolerance is discussed.     

CELL TO CELL INTERACTION IN THE IMMUNE RESPONSE : V. TARGET CELLS FOR TOLERANCE INDUCTION

Collaboration between thymus-derived lymphocytes, and nonthymus-derived antibody-forming cell precursors occurs during the immune response of mice to sheep erythrocytes (SRBC). The aim of the experiments reported here was to attempt to induce tolerance in each of the two cell populations to determine which cell type dictates the specificity of the response. Adult mice were rendered specifically tolerant to SRBC by treatment with one large dose of SRBC followed by cyclophosphamide. Attempts to restore to normal their anti-SRBC response by injecting lymphoid cells from various sources were unsuccessful. A slight increase in the response was, however, obtained in recipients of thymus or thoracic duct lymphocytes and a more substantial increase in recipients of spleen cells or of a mixture of thymus or thoracic duct cells and normal marrow or spleen cells from thymectomized donors. Thymus cells from tolerant mice were as effective as thymus cells from normal or cyclophosphamide-treated controls in enabling neonatally thymectomized recipients to respond to SRBC and in collaborating with normal marrow cells to allow a response to SRBC in irradiated mice. Tolerance was thus not achieved at the level of thelymphocyte population within the thymus, perhaps because of insufficient penetration of the thymus by the antigens concerned. By contrast, thoracic duct lymphocytes from tolerant mice failed to restore to normal the response of neonatally thymectomized recipients to SRBC. Tolerance is thus a property that can be linked specifically to thymus-derived cells as they exist in the mobile pool of recirculating lymphocytes outside the thymus. Thymus-derived cells are thus considered capable of recognizing and specifically reacting with antigenic determinants. Marrow cells from tolerant mice were as effective as marrow cells from cyclophosphamide-treated or normal controls in collaborating with normal thymus cells to allow a response to SRBC in irradiated recipients. When a mixture of thymus or thoracic duct cells and lymph node cells was given to irradiated mice, the response to SRBC was essentially the same whether the lymph node cells were derived from tolerant donors or from thymectomized irradiated, marrow-protected donors. Attempts to induce tolerance to SRBC in adult thymectomized, irradiated mice 3–4 wk after marrow protection, by treatment with SRBC and cyclophosphamide, were unsuccessful: after injection of thoracic duct cells, a vigorous response to SRBC occurred. The magnitude of the response was the same whether or not thymus cells had been given prior to the tolerization regime. The various experimental designs have thus failed to demonstrate specific tolerance in the nonthymus-derived lymphocyte population. Several alternative possibilities were discussed. Perhaps such a population does not contain cells capable of dictating the specificity of the response. This was considered unlikely. Alternatively, tolerance may have been achieved but soon masked by a rapid, thymus-independent, differentiation of marrow-derived lymphoid stem cells. On the other hand, tolerance may not have occurred simply because the induction of tolerance, like the induction of antibody formation, requires the collaboration of thymus-derived cells. Finally, tolerance in the nonthymus-derived cell population may never be achieved because the SRBC-cyclophosphamide regime specifically eliminates thymus-derived cells leaving the antibody-forming cell precursors intact but unable to react with antigen as there are no thymus-derived cells with which to interact.     

STUDIES ON THE RECOVERY OF THE IMMUNE RESPONSE IN IRRADIATED MICE THYMECTOMIZED IN ADULT LIFE

Experiments performed on CBA mice thymectomized in adult life, exposed to lethal doses of irradiation and given tissue therapy are described. Marrow, foetal liver, or spleen cells from syngeneic donors could protect the mice against the lethal effects of irradiation. Between 30 and 70 days' postirradiation, however, marrow-treated, thymectomized irradiated mice showed evidence of trophic disturbances, such as failure to gain weight, in contrast to sham-operated, irradiated, marrow-treated controls. The immune responses of experimental and control mice were tested up to 150 days' postirradiation by challenging with sheep erythrocytes and allogeneic skin grafts. Sham-operated irradiated controls, whether protected with marrow, foetal liver, or spleen cells, produced normal immune responses when challenged at 28, 60, or 150 days after irradiation. Neither foetal liver cells nor marrow cells, in doses of up to 40 million cells per mouse, enabled thymectomized irradiated mice to recover normal immune functions. Spleen cells, from normal donors but not from neonatally thymectomized donors, restored immunological capacity in such mice. It is concluded that immunologically competent cells are present in the spleen of normal adult donors and can function in the absence of the thymus. Bone marrow, on the other hand, does not contain an adequate population of such cells but has lymphoid precursor cells, the descendants of which can become immunologically competent only in the presence of a functioning thymus mechanism.     

THE PRIMARY IMMUNE RESPONSE IN MICE : II. CELLULAR RESPONSES OF LYMPHOID TISSUE ACCOMPANYING THE ENHANCEMENT OR COMPLETE SUPPRESSION OF ANTIBODY FORMATION BY A BACTERIAL ENDOTOXIN

The effects of a single injection of a bacterial endotoxin on the cellular changes of a primary immune response to a standard dose of sheep red blood cells were studied in the spleens and mesenteric lymph nodes of mice. Daily histological comparisons of these organs in mice, injected with endotoxin, or with antigen, or both, showed that endotoxin given simultaneously with sheep red blood cells, as antigen, significantly enhanced all of the cellular changes that appear in the mesenteric lymph nodes and spleens of mice that form antibody when that antigen is given alone. First, in the white pulp of the spleens and cortical regions of the nodes, there appeared an early and excessive proliferation of the large pyroninophilic cells which seems to be responsible for the earliest formation of antibody, as judged by this work and that of others cited in the body of the paper. Polymorphonuclear cells invaded the spleens of these animals early after simultaneous challenge with antigen and endotoxin, and in far greater numbers than have ever been seen in mice given the same antigen without endotoxin. "Activated" germinal centers formed in the lymphoid tissue either 1 day before the appearance of antibody in the blood stream or on the same day, and they became larger than in the mice given antigen only. On the other hand, these specific and characteristic cellular changes failed to appear in mice prevented from forming any antibody at all by injections of endotoxin given 2 days before the antigenic challenge. These findings are discussed in the light provided by data from recent reports of others as well as in the light of the accompanying paper (1) which demonstrated not only the enhancement of antibody formation following simultaneous injections of antigen and endotoxin, as already known, but a totally unexpected, complete suppression of its formation when endotoxin was given 2 days before antigen.     

CELL TO CELL INTERACTION IN THE IMMUNE RESPONSE : III. CHROMOSOMAL MARKER ANALYSIS OF SINGLE ANTIBODY-FORMING CELLS IN RECONSTITUTED, IRRADIATED, OR THYMECTOMIZED MICE

Two new methods are described for making chromosomal spreads of single antibody-forming cells. The first depends on the controlled rupture of cells in small microdroplets through the use of a mild detergent and application of a mechanical stress on the cell. The second is a microadaptation of the conventional Ford technique. Both methods have a success rate of over 50%, though the quality of chromosomal spreads obtained is generally not as good as with conventional methods. These techniques have been applied to an analysis of cell to cell interaction in adoptive immune responses, using the full syngeneic transfer system provided by the use of CBA and CBA/T6T6 donor-recipient combinations. When neonatally thymectomized mice were restored to adequate immune responsiveness to sheep erythrocytes by injections of either thymus cells or thoracic duct lymphocytes, it was shown that all the actual dividing antibody-forming cells were not of donor but of host origin. When lethally irradiated mice were injected with chromosomally marked but syngeneic mixtures of thymus and bone marrow cells, a rather feeble adoptive immune response ensued; all the antibody-forming cells identified were of bone marrow origin. When mixtures of bone marrow cells and thoracic duct lymphocytes were used, immune restoration was much more effective, and over three-quarters of the antibody-forming mitotic figures carried the bone marrow donor chromosomal marker. The results were deemed to be consistent with the conclusions derived in the previous paper of this series, namely that thymus contains some, but a small number only of antigen-reactive cells (ARC), bone marrow contains antibody-forming cell precursors (AFCP) but no ARC, and thoracic duct lymph contains both ARC and AFCP with a probable predominance of the former. A vigorous immune response to sheep erythrocytes probably requires a collaboration between the two cell lineages, involving proliferation first of the ARC and then of the AFCP. The results stressed that the use of large numbers of pure thoracic duct lymphocytes in adoptive transfer work could lead to good adoptive immune responses, but that such results should not be construed as evidence against cell collaboration hypotheses. Some possible further uses of single cell chromosome techniques were briefly discussed.     

CELL TO CELL INTERACTION IN THE IMMUNE RESPONSE : II. THE SOURCE OF HEMOLYSIN-FORMING CELLS IN IRRADIATED MICE GIVEN BONE MARROW AND THYMUS OR THORACIC DUCT LYMPHOCYTES

The number of discrete hemolytic foci and of hemolysin-forming cells arising in the spleens of heavily irradiated mice given sheep erythrocytes and either syngeneic thymus or bone marrow was not significantly greater than that detected in controls given antigen alone. Thoracic duct cells injected with sheep erythrocytes significantly increased the number of hemolytic foci and 10 million cells gave rise to over 1000 hemolysin-forming cells per spleen. A synergistic effect was observed when syngeneic thoracic duct cells were mixed with syngeneic marrow cells: the number of hemolysin-forming cells produced in this case was far greater than could be accounted for by summating the activities of either cell population given alone. The number of hemolytic foci produced by the mixed population was not however greater than that produced by an equivalent number of thoracic duct cells given without bone marrow. Thymus cells given together with syngeneic bone marrow enabled irradiated mice to produce hemolysin-forming cells but were much less effective than the same number of thoracic duct cells. Likewise syngeneic thymus cells were not as effective as thoracic duct cells in enabling thymectomized irradiated bone marrow-protected hosts to produce hemolysin-forming cells in response to sheep erythrocytes. Irradiated recipients of semiallogeneic thoracic duct cells produced hemolysin-forming cells of donor-type as shown by the use of anti-H2 sera. The identity of the hemolysin-forming cells in the spleens of irradiated mice receiving a mixed inoculum of semiallogeneic thoracic duct cells and syngeneic marrow was not determined because no synergistic effect was obtained in these recipients in contrast to the results in the syngeneic situation. Thymectomized irradiated mice protected with bone marrow for a period of 2 wk and injected with semiallogeneic thoracic duct cells together with sheep erythrocytes did however produce a far greater number of hemolysin-forming cells than irradiated mice receiving the same number of thoracic duct cells without bone marrow. Anti-H2 sera revealed that the antibody-forming cells arising in the spleens of these thymectomized irradiated hosts were derived, not from the injected thoracic duct cells, but from bone marrow. It is concluded that thoracic duct lymph contains a mixture of cell types: some are hemolysin-forming cell precursors and others are antigen-reactive cells which can interact with antigen and initiate the differentiation of hemolysin-forming cell precursors to antibody-forming cells. Bone marrow contains only precursors of hemolysin-forming cells and thymus contains only antigen-reactive cells but in a proportion that is far less than in thoracic duct lymph.     

ANTIBODY-MEDIATED SUPPRESSION OF THE IMMUNE RESPONSE IN VITRO : II. A NEW APPROACH TO THE PHENOMENON OF IMMUNOLOGICAL TOLERANCE

Immunological tolerance to H antigens of Salmonella adelaide may be induced in vitro by the exposure of mouse spleen cells for 6 hr to an immunogenic dose of polymerized flagellin in the presence of low concentrations of specific antibody. Such antibody-mediated tolerance requires an optimal antigen: antibody ratio for its induction. A shift in this ratio in favor of the antibody concentration results in failure of tolerance induction and leads to immune suppression commonly known as antibody-mediated feedback inhibition which is not analogous to immunological tolerance. Fragment A of flagellin fails to induce immunological tolerance in vitro. Tolerance to polymerized flagellin may however be induced in vitro, provided the spleen cells are exposed to fragment A in the presence of specific antibody for 6 hr. The results are discussed in the light of current theories of the mechanism of tolerance induction.     

SUPPRESSION OR AUGMENTATION OF THE ANTIHAPTEN RESPONSE IN MICE BY ANTIBODIES OF DIFFERENT SPECIFICITIES

We have measured the production by (C57 x CBA)F₁ mice of hapten-binding antibody in response to a standard dose of 50 µg of alum-precipitated NIP₁₂-CG and the influence on this response of the prior administration of hyperimmune antisera raised against the homologous conjugate, the carrier globulin alone, the hapten conjugated to a non-cross-reactive carrier (NIP₄-OA), or a related hapten (NP) coupled to CG. The homologous antiserum was strongly immunosuppressive; a dose capable of binding about 1% of the administered hapten caused significant suppression. High doses of anticarrier serum caused significant but modest suppression (about 50%); low doses had no effect. High doses of the serum prepared against NIP₄-OA suppressed the 19 day response by more than 97%, while 100–1,000 times lower doses caused the response to be elevated to about double the control level. The antibodies responsible for immunosuppression could be removed from this serum, as could the NIP-binding antibodies, by absorption with NIP coupled through ethylenediamine to insoluble Sepharose. The ability of this serum to augment the response was not reduced by such absorption. Augmenting antibodies could be removed by absorption with HOP-BSA-Sepharose. Thus, immunosuppression and augmentation are functions of two different populations of antibody. The former are specific hapten-binding antibodies, the latter seem to be directed against new antigenic determinants created by coupling any of the family of haptens through lysine to protein carriers. In support of this contention, it was observed that rabbit antiserum to NP-CG, after absorption with CG-Sepharose, augmented the response of mice to standard immunization with NIP₁₂-CG. Female mice produced significantly more NIP-binding antibody than did males.     

PASSIVE ANTIBODY AND THE IMMUNE RESPONSE : FACTORS WHICH DETERMINE ENHANCEMENT AND SUPPRESSION

The isoimmune response of fowl inoculated with RBC coated with antibody was investigated. Anti-B antiserum from a single animal was used to coat different donor type RBC. With each donor type RBC the immune response to the coated determinants is suppressed. Enhancement of the immune response to noncoated determinants occurs when they are products of an allelic gene or belong to a different blood group system. Coating some B antigen determinants suppresses the response to noncoated determinants of the same antigen, i.e., determinants which are products of the same B gene. Varying the quantity of passive antibody revealed that the degree of suppression and the degree of enhancement are negatively correlated. These findings support the concept that antibody-coated determinants function as carrier for noncoated determinants, provided a certain physical association exists between them. A further interpretation of these studies is that in certain situations an antibody to one antigen may interfere with events which lead to an immune response to a different antigen. The possibility, that the protection afforded by ABO incompatibility against Rh isoimmunization is because of a similar phenomenon, is discussed. A hypothesis is presented which states that where the immune response to certain antigens behaves as a dominantly inherited trait, and is associated with histocompatibility type, the nonresponder animals possess an antibody (perhaps cell bound) which interferes with the response to determinants for which it does not have specificity. Responders are assumed to lack this antibody because it has specificity for their major histocompatibility antigens.