Failure of clonal deletion in neonatally thymectomized mice: tolerance is preserved through clonal anergy.
Self-tolerance is achieved in part through intrathymic deletion of self-reactive T cells. The necessity of the thymus for this process is suggested by the development of autoimmune diseases in neonatally thymectomized (neoTx) mice and by the failure of clonal deletion in nude mice. Indeed, the present study demonstrates that neonatal thymectomy on day 3 after birth results in the failure of clonal deletion of V beta 11+ T cells in BALB/c mice and V beta 5+ and V beta 6+ T cells in DBA/2 mice. However, these potentially autoreactive cells are nonfunctional as measured by proliferation and lymphokine production after stimulation with appropriate anti-V beta mAbs or stimulator cells. It appears that this induction of nonresponsiveness may have occurred extrathymically: the early neonatal thymus (presumably the source of the peripheral T cells observed in neoTx mice) also contains T cells with self-reactive receptors, but these cells are fully functional. Therefore, neonatal thymectomy aborts deletion of self-reactive T cells, but self-tolerance is maintained through functional inactivation of potentially self-reactive clones.
Jones
L A
LA
Biological Response Modifiers Program, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
Chin
L T
LT
Merriam
G R
GR
Nelson
L M
LM
Kruisbeck
A M
AM
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D015551:Autoimmunity / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000502:physiology; D002452:Cell Count; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D005260:Female; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D008212:Lymphocyte Depletion; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D011247:Pregnancy; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000502:physiology; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013934:Thymectomy; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology
D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell