Interleukin 2 is mitogenic for nu/nu and nu/+ murine spleen cells.

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Abstract
Interleukin 2 (IL-2), a product of activated T lymphocytes but not of T-cell-deficient spleen cells of congenitally athymic (nu/nu) mice, is strongly mitogenic for spleen cells from nu/nu and nu/+ mice in the absence of serum. This response does not depend on the presence of additional mitogen or antigen as was previously reported and is dose dependent with respect to IL-2. Plots of the logarithm of cell number vs. logarithm of response indicate that IL-2-induced mitogenesis of nu/nu spleen cells is a 1-cell event (slope = 1.28 .+-. 0.21, mean .+-. SD); the response of nu/+ spleen cells to concanavalin A is a 3-cell event (slope = 3.18 .+-. 0.16). The nu/nu spleen cells proliferating in response to IL-2 are at least 80% T lymphocytes by the 3rd day of culture, as demonstrated by lysis with monoclonal anti-Thy-1 antibody and complement. One of the major roles of the thymus may be to induce IL-2 production in a subpopulation of lymphocytes that is then persistent.