title: Specificity and immunosuppressive potency of a rabbit antimouse T cell-specific antiserum.
abstract: An attempt was made to prepare a specific heterologous rabbit antimouse T cell antiserum (anti-MTLA) by absorbing rabbit antimouse thymocyte globulin (ATG) with spleen cells from BALB/c TXBM mice. Cytotoxicity data showed that whereas ATG was cytotoxic to both T and B cells, anti-MTLA was highly cytotoxic to only T cells. Whereas spleen cells treated with ATG and complement (C) failed to respond in all assays studied, spleen cells treated with anti-MTLA and C: (1) responded to the B cell mitogens but failed to respond to the T cell mitogens; (2) were able to stimulate allogeneic spleen cells but failed to respond to mixed lymphocyte culture (3) failed to act as T killer cells in the CML reaction but retained their ability to kill antibody-coated target cells; and (4) did not cause a graft-versus-host reaction when injected in allogeneic mice and increased their survival significantly. Furthermore, anti-MTLA was just as immunosuppressive in vivo as ATG in its ability to suppress the immune response to sheep red blood cells and prolong skin allograft survival. Anti-MTLA was found to be different in specificities from anti-theta serum by several points: (1) it was cytotoxic for T cells from both theta-C3H and theta-AKR mice; (2) it was highly immunosuppressive in vivo when compared to anti-theta serum; (3) absorption of anti-MTLA with mouse brain did not decrease the immunosuppressive activity; and (4) rabbit antimouse brain antiserum failed to show any immunosuppressive activity. These data indicate that anti-MTLA is a specific antiserum against a unique marker on T cells distinct from the theta marker.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D000961:Antilymphocyte Serum; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D001921:Brain / Q000276:immunology; D006084:Graft Rejection; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D051379:Mice; D008806:Mice, Inbred AKR; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D011817:Rabbits / Q000276:immunology; D011828:Radiation Chimera; D012712:Serum Globulins; D016038:Skin Transplantation; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
chemical_list: D000961:Antilymphocyte Serum; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D012712:Serum Globulins