Transduction of Effector-Suppressor T Cells by an Antigen-Specific Suppressor T Cell Factor and Lyt-1+,2+,3+ T Cells

Abstract
The cellular consequences in the suppression of IgG antibody formation initiated by an antigen-specific suppressor T cell factor (TsF) were investigated. The initial step of the suppression is the production of TsF by Lyt-2+,3+ T cells (Tsi) which activates Lyt-1+,2+,3+ acceptor T cells in the nylon wool-adherent T cell population. The activated Lyt-1+,2+,3+ T cells further generate a new effector-suppressor T cell (Tse) that belongs to the Lyt-2+,3+ T cell subset in the culture of nylon-adherent T cells with antigen. The Tse thus induced directly suppresses the responses mounted by B cells and nylon column-purified helper T cells in the absence of TsF. The origin of Tse was further examined by utilizing Lyt congeneic mice. The result indicates that Lyt-1+,2+,3+ acceptor T cells themselves do not differentiate into Lyt-2+,3+ Tse with losing Lyt-1 phenotype but facilitate the transduction of Tse from a preexisting precursor pool. These cellular interactions strongly suggest that Lyt-1+,2+,3+ T cells play a decisive role in an amplification of immunoregulation.

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