INTERLEUKIN-2 ALLOWS INVIVO INDUCTION OF ANTI-ERYTHROCYTE AUTOANTIBODY PRODUCTION IN NUDE-MICE ASSOCIATED WITH THE INJECTION OF RAT ERYTHROCYTES

  • 1 January 1981
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 43  (3) , 641-644
Abstract
Mice injected with rat red blood cells (RBC] developed anti-erythrocyte autoantibodies detectable by a direct Coombs'' test. Nude mice injected with rat RBC did not develop a Coombs-positive state, but nude mice injected with rat RBC plus the T cell helper factor, interleukin[IL]-2, produced autoantibodies to autologous mouse erythrocytes. The simultaneous injection of rat RBC and allogeneic spleen cells induced an early and vigorous autoantibody response in athymic nude mice as well as in euthymic control mice. An IL-2-stimulated in vivo differentiation (or clonal expansion) of helper T cells in nude mice may exist in response to heterologous erythrocytes which could mediate an autoimmune B cell response.