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Naturally Occurring Spleen‐Associated Suppressor Activity of the Newborn Mouse
Author(s) -
JADUS M. R.,
PECK A. B.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.934
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3083
pISSN - 0300-9475
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3083.1984.tb00980.x
Subject(s) - spleen , biology , suppressor , phenotype , immune system , immunology , genetics , gene
Spleens from newborn mice less than 6–7 days of age are known to contain naturally occurring suppressor cells, which can suppress the immune reactivity of third‐party adult cells. In the present study newborn spleen cell populations are shown to possess the potential to inhibit lethal graft‐versus‐host (GVH) disease in sublethally gamma‐irradiated hosts injected with allogeneic adult cells. However, this capacity to suppress GVH disease is controlled by at least two genetic restrictions: (1) the newborn spleen cells and the adult donor cells must be histocompatible at an H‐2‐linked region apparently telomeric of H‐2DL, and (2) the newborn spleen cells must express a strongly stimulating non‐H‐2 (perhaps Mis) alloantigenic phenotype. Host animals that survive GVH remain chimeric for at least 3–4 weeks but return to the host phenotype by 8–10 weeks. Thus, it appears that in sublethally irradiated hosts the newborn cells suppress donor cell reactivity long enough for the host system to recover from the effects of irradiation.