INDUCTION OF SUPPRESSOR CELL MECHANISM IN ANTI-LYMPHOCYTE SERUM-INDUCED SKIN ALLOGRAFT TOLERANCE IN MICE

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 25  (4) , 220-230
Abstract
In the B10.D2 .fwdarw. B10.D2(M504) strain combination (H-2D incompatibility), 20-40% of skin allografts survived for more than 100 days in ALS[antilymphocyte serum]-treated recipients. Allograft tolerance in ALS-treated recipients could not be abolished by adoptively transferred normal or immune syngeneic spleen cells, but it could be adoptively transferred by spleen or lymph node cells to sublethally irradiated syngeneic mice. The suppressive activity of transferred cell population markedly declined after treatment with anti Thy-1.2 serum and complement. Cells with suppressor activity could be demonstrated by adoptive transfers as early as 5 days after skin grafting and ALS treatment. The long-term allograft-promoting effect of ALS was caused by a decrease in the graft-rejection cell potential of the recipients (as previously demonstrated) and by activation of a T [thymus-derived] cell-mediated suppressor mechanism.