OX-22high CD4+ T cells induce wasting disease with multiple organ pathology: prevention by the OX-22low subset.
Congenitally athymic rats injected with CD45RBhigh CD4+ T cells from congenic euthymic donors developed a severe wasting disease with inflammatory infiltrates in liver, lung, stomach, thyroid, and pancreas. In contrast, recipients of CD45RBlow CD4+ T cells remained well and continued to gain weight. Animals given unfractionated CD4+ T cells, i.e., a mixture of approximately two-thirds CD45RBhigh and one-third CD45RBlow, were protected from the wasting disease, and the incidence of organ-specific inflammation was much reduced compared with that found in recipients of CD45RBhigh cells alone. The data suggest that this latter subset of CD4+ T cells has autoaggressive potential that is inhibited in normal animals by cells of the CD45RBlow CD4+ phenotype. The possible consequences of a breakdown in this immunoregulatory mechanism are briefly discussed.
Powrie
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MRC Cellular Immunology Unit, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford, UK.
Mason
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D
D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology*; D015704:CD4 Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D008168:Lung / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D010641:Phenotype; D051381:Rats; D011922:Rats, Mutant Strains; D011923:Rats, Nude; D012016:Reference Values; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D015704:CD4 Antigens