Ir gene control of the immune response to insulins. I. Pork insulin stimulates T cell activity in nonresponder mice.
Immune responses by mice to heterologous insulins are controlled by H-2-linked Ir genes. In studies to determine the mechanism(s) of nonresponsiveness, we found that although pork insulin fails to stimulate antibody or proliferative responses in H-2b mice, it does stimulate enhanced responses to subsequent challenge with an immunogenic species of insulin, such as beef insulin. Experiments described in this communication analyze the cell type primed in H-2b mice by pork insulin using an adoptive transfer protocol. The results demonstrate that pork insulin primes T cells that can express helper activity when recipient mice are challenged with beef but not pork insulin. This helper T cell activity is insulin specific in both elicitation and effect but is dependent upon stimulation by beef insulin for expression. Our interpretation of these results is that 2 antigen-specific T cell subpopulations are required for the generation of insulin-specific antibody responses and that the Ir gene defect in this case is expressed as a failure of specific interaction of these 2 T cell populations.
D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation; D002417:Cattle; D002645:Chickens; D004306:Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic; D000939:Epitopes; D005260:Female; D005802:Genes, MHC Class II; D006462:Hemolytic Plaque Technique; D007116:Immunization, Passive; D007328:Insulin / Q000276:immunology*; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D013552:Swine; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
D000939:Epitopes; D007328:Insulin