Immunosuppressive activity of class I antigens in the absence of antigen-presenting cells that are MHC-compatible with the host.
Pretransplant transfusions of heat-treated spleen and lymph node cells were shown to prolong the survival of DA strain heart grafts in 3 allogeneic host strains: BS, HS, and AS2. To examine whether MHC incompatibility was necessary for immunosuppression mediated by heat-treated cells, AS strain skin-graft recipients were pretreated with fresh or heated inocula from either MHC compatible or incompatible congenic donor strains, AS2.1L(AS) and AS.1F(AS2) prior to transplanting donor strain skin. Prolonged survival was observed only in the MHC-incompatible strain combination, and in this MHC-incompatible strain combination, and in this instance heated cells were conspicuously more immunosuppressive than fresh cells. To determine the effect of intra-MHC differences between donor and host on graft survival, cells from a recombinant donor strain (r22), which shared class II antigens with the graft donor strain and class I antigens with the host, were transfused prior to heart transplantation. Neither fresh nor heated r22 cells prolonged graft survival. Our data accord with the suggestion that in the absence of MHC-compatible antigen-presenting cells, foreign class I antigen is immunosuppressive.
Baird
M A
MA
Department of Surgery, University of Otago Medical School, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Munn
S R
SR
Heslop
B F
BF
D000818:Animals; D000938:Antigen-Presenting Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D006085:Graft Survival; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D006649:Histocompatibility Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D008285:Major Histocompatibility Complex; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D016038:Skin Transplantation
D006649:Histocompatibility Antigens