Production of rheumatoid factor in adoptively immune guinea-pigs after challenge with Treponema pallidum.
Guinea-pigs of inbred strains 2 and C4D were infused with various concentrations (1 x 10(8) to 4 x 10(8) of syngeneic nylon wool-purified Treponema pallidum-immune T lymphocytes (TPI-T) and challenged 24 hr later with virulent T. pallidum (10(8) organisms). The degree of protection depended on the number of infused T cells and was associated with an accelerated production of IgM rheumatoid factor (RF). Fully protected animals (4 x 10(8) TPI-T) did not produce treponemal antibodies or circulating immune complexes (CIC) but produced IgM RF detectable 10 days after infection. Partially protected animals (< or = 2 x 10(8) TPI-T) produced, 30 days post-infection, relatively low levels of treponemal antibodies but high levels of CIC and RF. Control animals infused with 2 x 10(8) TPI-T lymphocytes but not infected with T. pallidum, when monitored for a period of 6 weeks, did not produce treponemal antibodies, CIC, or RF, excluding the possibility that IgM RF could be generated by the donor's B cells contaminating (circa 3%) the TPI-T lymphocytes. Moreover, unprotected syngeneic control animals infused, prior to infection, with T. phagedenis biotype Reiter-immune T cells or with T. pallidum-free testicular inflammatory fluid-immune T cells responded with increasing levels of treponemal antibodies; only a few animals produced RF and CIC 5 months after infection similarly to control guinea-pigs infected only. The production of RF in partially protected animals responding to infection with treponemal antibodies and CIC was apparently associated with the presence of the CIC; but the mechanism of RF production in fully protected animals in which no antibodies or CIC were detected is currently unknown.
Baughn
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Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
Wicher
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Wicher
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D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000096:biosynthesis; D000918:Antibody Specificity / Q000276:immunology; D000936:Antigen-Antibody Complex / Q000096:biosynthesis; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D007110:Immunity, Active; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000096:biosynthesis; D008297:Male; D012217:Rheumatoid Factor / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D013587:Syphilis / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000637:transplantation; D014210:Treponema pallidum / Q000276:immunology
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000936:Antigen-Antibody Complex; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; D012217:Rheumatoid Factor