A novel cell type responsible for marrow graft rejection in mice. T cells with NK phenotype cause acute rejection of marrow grafts.
Acute rejection of allogeneic and semiallogeneic marrow grafts has long been considered to be a function of the natural immune system because it shares many features with NK activity in mice. With the use of a recently developed in vivo adoptive transfer assay in which spleen cells are transferred from mice able to reject a particular marrow graft into mice that fail to do so, we show that the cells responsible for induction of marrow graft rejection indeed display the phenotype of NK cells: they lack the T cell Ag CD4 and CD8 but express the NK Ag NK1 and ASGM1. The rejection induced by adoptively transferred cells is exquisitely specific--a feature that points to a specific recognition process by the transferred cells. To elucidate what the recognition structure on these cells may be we found that they express CD3 and most likely the beta-chain of the TCR. Highly purified responder cells with the NK1+, CD3+, CD4-, CD8- phenotype, when transferred into nonresponder recipients, cause specific marrow graft rejection. We conclude that the acute rejection of bone marrow grafts is caused by a cell that expresses NK phenotype but is of T cell lineage. This may suggest the specificity of acute marrow graft rejection is caused by a specific recognition process that involves TCR.
Yankelevich
B
B
Immunology Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles 90033.
Knobloch
C
C
Nowicki
M
M
Dennert
G
G
D000818:Animals; D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000187:drug effects; D007116:Immunization, Passive; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000637:transplantation*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D010641:Phenotype; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell; D013045:Species Specificity; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000145:classification* / Q000637:transplantation; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D014185:Transplantation, Isogeneic
D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell; D003520:Cyclophosphamide