title: Is the delayed-type hypersensitivity observed after a low dose of antigen mediated by helper T cells?
abstract: In mice receiving, i.v., a dose of antigen optimal for antibody response, no delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction is detectable. In contrast, in mice receiving a dose of antigen too small to induce B cell activation, a DTH reaction is elicitable shortly and transiently after immunization. Using a sensitive titration assay of DTH-mediating T lymphocytes, this reciprocal relationship between antibody production and DTH responses was reinvestigated. The absence of peripheral DTH reactivity in mice primed i.v. with a high dose of antigen (10(9) heterologous red blood cells) does not result either from the absence of activation and clonal expansion of DTH-mediating cells or from induction of suppressive mechanisms but results from a decreased circulation of DTH-mediating cells. The present studies show that DTH-mediating cells disappear from blood to enter the spleen only when specific B lymphocytes are present and activated by a high dose of antigen. These results are compatible with the hypothesis that T cells activated by antigen can function either as helper cells for B lymphocytes or as DTH-mediating cells, depending on the environment they reach during their migration. In order to demonstrate that the same cell may support the two functions, monoclonal T lymphocytes were assayed for their helper function and for their ability to transfer a DTH reaction.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000941:Antigens / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000528:radiation effects; D002465:Cell Movement; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000276:immunology; D004306:Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006736:Horses; D006968:Hypersensitivity, Delayed / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000528:radiation effects; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D011828:Radiation Chimera; D012756:Sheep; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens