Phenotype, specificity, and function of T cell subsets and T cell interactions involved in skin allograft rejection.

Journal of Experimental Medicine - Tập 165 Số 5 - Trang 1296-1315 - 1987
Aaron S. Rosenberg1,2,3, Toshiaki Mizuochi2, S O Sharrow2, Alfred Singer2
1American Society of Transplant Physicians-Sandoz Fellowship .
2From the Immunology Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892
3Immunology Branch, National Cancer Institute, Building 10, Room 4B-17, Bethesda, MD 20892

Tóm tắt

In the present study we used an adoptive transfer model with athymic nude mice to characterize the T cells involved in initiating and mediating skin allograft rejection. It was found that skin allograft rejection in nude mice required the transfer of immunocompetent T cells and that such reconstitution did not itself stimulate the appearance of T cells derived from the nude host. Reconstitution with isolated populations of Lyt-2+/L3T4- T cells resulted in the rapid rejection of MHC class I-disparate skin allografts, whereas reconstitution with isolated populations of L3T4+/Lyt-2- T cells resulted in the rapid rejection of MHC class II-disparate and minor H-disparate skin allografts. By correlating these rejection responses with the functional capabilities of antigen-specific T cells contained within the reconstituting Lyt-2+ and L3T4+ T cell populations, it was noted that skin allografts were only rejected by mice that, as shown by in vitro assessment, contained both lymphokine-secreting Th cells and lymphokine-responsive Tk cells specific for the alloantigens of the graft. The ability of two such functionally distinct T cell subsets to interact in vivo to reject skin allografts was directly demonstrated in H-Y-specific rejection responses by taking advantage of the fact that H-Y-specific Th cells are L3T4+ while H-Y specific Tk cells are Lyt-2+. Finally, the importance of in vivo interactions between functionally distinct Th/T-inducer cells and T killer (Tk)/T-effector cells in skin allograft rejection was demonstrated by the observation that normal B6 mice retain Qala and Kbm6 skin allografts because of a selective deficiency in antigen-specific Th cells, even though they contain T-effector cells that, when activated, are able to reject such allografts. Thus, the ability to reject skin allografts is neither unique to a specialized subset of T cells with a given Lyt phenotype, nor unique to a specialized subset of helper-independent effector T cells with so-called dual function capability. Rather, skin allograft rejection can be mediated by in vivo collaborations between T-inducer cells and T-effector cells, and the two interacting T cell subsets can express different Lyt phenotypes as well as different antigen specificities.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Journal of Experimental Medicine

Tập 165 Số 5

1296-1315

Thông tin tác giả