title: Immunosuppressive ATS. V. Analysis of the effect of anti-thymocyte serum on T lymphocyte subsets.
abstract: The effect of anti-thymocyte serum (ATS) on functional T cell subsets within the immunoregulatory network was examined. We found that low doses of ATS depleted the IL 2-producing subset of T helper cells and higher doses of antiserum also eliminated cytotoxic precursors. It was estimated that a standard low dose of ATS, which reduced T helper cells 80-fold, depleted cytotoxic precursors only about four-fold. The data indicate that ATS acts on different T cell subsets in a dose-dependent fashion and suggest that monoclonal antibodies might be used to preferentially deplete specific T cell subpopulations. Two monoclonal rat anti-mouse Lyt sera, however, proved ineffective in inducing functional changes in vivo, although an alloantiserum to Lyt1.1 was able to reduce cell-mediated cytotoxicity in a dose-dependent fashion. The results support the feasibility of specific depletion of T cell subsets with anti-lymphoid antibodies.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology; D000950:Antigens, Ly / Q000276:immunology; D000961:Antilymphocyte Serum / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D004306:Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000096:biosynthesis; D008211:Lymphocyte Cooperation; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology*; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000950:Antigens, Ly; D000961:Antilymphocyte Serum; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D007376:Interleukin-2