The fate of anergic T cells in vivo.
The kinetics of Staphylococcal enterotoxin B-(SEB) induced peripheral tolerance has been investigated. Ten days after SEB injection, thymectomized BALB/cByJ mice showed suppressed spleen cell proliferative responses to SEB. After 2 mo the SEB-specific response was partly recovered. Four months later the response of spleen cells of SEB-primed mice was comparable to those of control mice. The proportion of CD4+, V beta 8+ T cells was diminished in the tolerized mice and was not restored even after the response was recovered. Purified CD4+, V beta 8+ T cells from SEB-primed mice after 4 mo responded similarly to SEB as control CD4+, V beta 8+ T cells. These expressed a similar profile of surface markers compared with that of unprimed control cells, except a homing receptor was slightly lower. An experiment that addressed the possibility that non-anergic T cells expand over time and are in fact responsible for the recovery of the proliferative response showed that such events unlikely occur in vivo. Therefore, the data indicate that T cell anergy is reversible in vivo. It is also suggested that the challenge with superantigen results in neither clonal expansion nor specific CD4+, V beta 8+ T cell memory.
Migita
K
K
Division of Neurobiology and Molecular Immunology, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Ochi
A
A
D000818:Animals; D015704:CD4 Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000276:immunology; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000032:analysis; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D013934:Thymectomy
D015704:CD4 Antigens; D004768:Enterotoxins; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta; C031818:enterotoxin B, staphylococcal