Characterization of host CD4+ T lymphocytes in mice neonatally tolerized to alloantigens

BALB/c mice injected at birth with semi-allogeneic F1 spleen cells become tolerant to alloantigens as shown by their CTL unresponsiveness to the corresponding alloantigen and the persistence of donor F1 cells into the BALB/c host. Moreover, these mice develop a transient systemic lupus erythematosis-like autoimmune syndrome characterized by splenomegaly, glomerulonephritis, thrombocytopenia and abnormal serological findings, such as several autoantibodies and IgG1 hypergammaglobulinemia. Recent studies done in our laboratory have shown that donor F1 B cells persisting in the host are responsible for the production of autoantibodies and must be activated in vivo by the host CD4⁺ T lymphocytes in a MHC class II-restricted fashion. In the present work, we have focused our attention on the ability of splenic CD4⁺ T cells recovered at different periods from BALB/c mice injected at birth with (CBA/Ca × BALB. Igh^b) Fl spleen cells to interact with and activate F1 semi-allogeneic spleen cells in vitro. We show that (i) only CD4⁺ T cells from 2- and 3-week-old tolerant BALB/c mice preferentially produce IL-4 and IL-5 in response to a F1 semi-allogeneic in vitro stimulation, (ii) CD4⁺ T cells purified from 3-week-old tolerant BALB/c mice are able to induce in vitro IgG and IgM production by F1 B cells. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that host CD4+ T cells, belonging to the TH2 subset progressively lose their reactivity towards the F1 semi-allogeneic persistent B cells, reaching a state of unresponsiveness that correlates with the disappearance of serum autoantibodies and autoimmune pathology.