LYMPHOCYTE SUPPRESSION BY KUPFFER CELLS PREVENTS PORTAL VENOUS TOLERANCE INDUCTION

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Ag administration into the portal vein can induce specific tolerance to that Ag, known as portal venous tolerance. Because intrahepatic mechanisms of tolerance induction are still largely undefined, we studied the in vitro response of OVA-sensitized Lewis rat lymphocytes to OVA presented by normal syngeneic rat Kupffer cells (KC) or KC that had been treated in vivo with gadolinium chloride (GD), a rare earth metal, which prevents the induction of portal venous tolerance. KC (2.5±104) were able to present OVA to 5±105 OVA-sensitized APC-depleted lymphocytes as effectively as could lymph node APC. However, the use of GD-treated KC was associated with a significantly (P2 release by GD-treated KC, as determined both by PGE2 levels in culture supernatants and by cyclooxygenase inhibition. However, the marked ability of GD-treated KC to inhibit the response to OVA by primed lymph node populations containing lymphocytes and APCs supports an active suppressive mechanism. Prevention of the induction of portal venous tolerance by GD, the lack of in vitro KC Ag presentation by GD-treated KC, and active immunosuppression by GD-treated KC support a model of tolerance induction within the liver wherein Ag presentation and lymphocyte proliferation are necessary for the development of tolerance.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: