Characterization of a subpopulation in neonatal thymus which suppress the graft-vs.-host reaction.
Thymus cells from neonatal and infant mice were found to have a high capacity to prevent mortality from acute graft-vs.-host disease as compared with spleen cells from stable radiation chimeras. This suppressive capacity of thymocytes decreases with age after birth as was demonstrated by semi-quantitative cell titrations. This suppressor activity is restricted to syngeneity of the graft-vs.-host disease-including cells. The thymic suppressor cells are Thy-1+ and Lyt-1+ and IgG- and IgM-. They do not agglutinate with peanut agglutinin and have a high electrophoretic mobility. In vitro irradiation experiments showed that the suppressor cells are radiation sensitive. These results are compared with the available information on cells suppressing delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions and those suppressing B cell responses.
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000032:analysis; D010367:Arachis; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006087:Graft vs Host Reaction; D037102:Lectins; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D019887:Peanut Agglutinin; D010641:Phenotype; D037121:Plant Lectins; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000276:immunology*
D000954:Antigens, Surface; D037102:Lectins; D019887:Peanut Agglutinin; D037121:Plant Lectins