The effect of thymectomy on lupus-prone mice.
The effect of neonatal thymectomy on the induction and/or modification of murine SLE disease was examined in several representative groups of mice with early-life SLE (MRL/Mp-lpr/lpr females, BXSB males, (NZB X W)F1 females, (NZW X BXSB)F1 males and females), late-life SLE (MRL/Mp-+/+ and BXSB females), and normal strains (BALB/c and C57BL/6 females). Our results indicated that thymectomy prevented disease only in the MRL/Mp-lpr/lpr SLE mice, and that this effect diminished as thymectomy was delayed beyond 3 wk post-natally. In the other SLE mice studied, neonatal thymectomy did not modify disease symptoms to any significant degree. Moreover, depletion of mature T cells from donor BXSB male bone marrow did not affect the expression of early-life SLE in thymectomized BXSB female recipients. Neonatal thymectomy did not induce SLE in normal mice. Of note, neonatal thymectomy did not completely deplete the Thy-1.2+ cell population, i.e., 10 to 15% remained in the spleens of the thymectomized mice. This incomplete T cell depletion, together with the previously demonstrated dependence on and hyperresponsiveness of BXSB and (NZB X W)F1 B cells to T helper cell-derived accessory signals, cast doubts on earlier conclusions that B cells from some SLE mice can autonomously proliferate and differentiate to autoantibody-secreting cells. It seems more appropriate to conclude that B cells from the various SLE mice vary in their degree of response to, and production of, T cell-derived helper signals, and thus in their expression of B cell hyperactivity and disease.
D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005921:Glomerulonephritis / Q000401:mortality; D007116:Immunization, Passive; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D010641:Phenotype; D011947:Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell / Q000235:genetics; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D018800:Thy-1 Antigens; D013934:Thymectomy
D000954:Antigens, Surface; D011947:Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell; D018800:Thy-1 Antigens