IR GENE DEFECTS MAY REFLECT A REGULATORY IMBALANCE .1. HELPER T-CELL ACTIVITY REVEALED IN A STRAIN WHOSE LACK OF RESPONSE IS CONTROLLED BY SUPPRESSION

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 123  (3) , 961-967
Abstract
A singular responsiveness to HEL [chicken egg-white lysozyme] was revealed in a peripheral lymphoid compartment of the genetically non-responsive H-2b mouse. Although i.p. injection of HEL induces suppression and a lack of anti-HEL production, following footpad injection there is an early emergence in the popliteal lymph node (P-LN) of HEL-specific helper activity and plaque-forming cells. The early P-LN transiently expresses 1 of 2 T [thymus-derived] cell types needed for initiation of suppression. Delayed recruitment of the 2nd required cell-type permits the induction of efficient suppression. There is only a short period during which there is concurrent representation of the 2 T cell subpopulations and by mixing early and late deficient P-LN T cells, suppression could be established. Although a vigorous helper cell potential may exist in a strain non-responsive to a multideterminant antigen, it might be obscured by a regulatory cell imbalance that results in the manifestation of a generalized Ir gene defect.

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