The mechanism of the induction of immunologic unresponsiveness to rat cardiac allografts by recipient pretreatment with donor lymphocyte subsets

In continuation of our studies using UV-B-irradiated DST and donor leukocyte (DL) recipient pretreatment to induce specific unresponsiveness to organ allografts, we have examined the relative contributions of splenic lymphocyte populations and T lymphocyte subsets in the induction of immunologic unresponsiveness. Our data show that enriched populations of MHC class II—positive B lymphocytes and the W3/25⁺ T cell subset obtained from splenic leukocytes using immunoadsorbent columns in conjunction with mAbs led to indefinite graft survival (>100 days) in the Lewis-to-ACI rat cardiac allograft model. In contrast, pretreatment with T lymphocytes or the 0x8⁺ T subset was relatively ineffective in prolonging cardiac allograft survival. In addition, third-party (W/F) W3/25⁺ T cell recipient pretreatment did not influence the survival of Lewis cardiac allografts in ACI recipients, thus confirming the specificity of pretreatment with the T cell subset in graft prolongation. Furthermore, we have examined the underlying mechanisms of donor-specific unresponsiveness induced by donor spleen cells, B lymphocytes, and W3/25⁺ T cells using adoptive transfer assays. Serial adoptive transfer studies demonstrated the presence of 0x8⁺ suppressor T cells in the spleens of unresponsive recipients bearing well-functioning cardiac allografts and of serum “suppressor factors” that have the capacity for specifically prolonging donor-type test graft survival in naive syngeneic rats. Our findings suggest that the induction of specific unresponsiveness in this model is dependent on a sequential collaboration between the appearance of donor-specific serum factor(s) (humoral phase) and donor- specific suppressor T cells (cellular phase). These results may be potentially useful in planning future strategies for the induction of unresponsiveness to clinical organ allografts by immunologic manipulation of the host with MHC class II—positive B cell and CD4⁺ T cell clones.