Involvement of the K and I regions of the H-2 complex in resistance to hemopoietic allografts.

Irradiated (H-2b X H-2k)F1 and (H-2b X H-2d)F1 recipients strongly resist the growth of H-2b parental bone marrow cells and do not resist marrow grafts from non-H-2b parents such as C3H and BALB/c. This phenomenon of hybrid resistance has been shown to be under genetic control of the H-2D-linked loci and was interpreted by Cudkowicz (9) as due to the existence of H-2D-linked recessive hemopoietic histocompatibility genes. To check whether the H-2D-linked loci are solely responsible for the fate of bone marrow allografts, we measured the strength of resistance of irradiated (B6 X C3H)F1 and (B6 X BALB/c)F1 recipients toward bone marrow grafts from a set of H-2 recombinant and F1 hybrid donors carrying either the H-2b, H-2d, and H-2k alleles. We found that growth of all H-2b grafts was resisted, although to different degrees. Resistance was minimal when donors shared with the input strain of a corresponding F1 hybrid the H-2K and H-2I regions, or when both F1 donors and F1 recipients formed identical unique hybrid Ia molecules. In addition, H-2b grafts were resisted by congenic, H-2D-identical, H-2K-and H-2I-incompatible recipients. The fate of grafts from H-2Dd donors seemed to depend on the incompatibility of the combinatorial determinant Ia.22. If both donor and recipient expressed such a determinant (either in the cis or in the transposition), or if neither could form such a determinant, grafts were not resisted. The H-2Dk allele is not the main or only factor that confers on the C3H parental bone marrow cells the ability to grow unresisted in (B6 X C3H)F1 recipients. Grafts from congenic C3H.OH donors, carrying the same H-2Dk alleles and differing in the left part of the H-2 complex, were resisted by the F1 recipients. We conclude that both class I (K and D) and class II (I-A and I-E) major histocompatibility complex genes, rather than hypothetical hemopoietic histocompatibility genes control hemopoietic resistance. To reconcile codominant inheritance of classic H-2 antigens with the apparent recessive inheritance of hybrid resistance, we assume that there exist parental determinants that are not formed in some F1 hybrids due to preferential association of either Ia alpha chains with allogeneic beta chains or of class I antigens with allogeneic or hybrid class II restriction elements.

The B-subunit of cholera toxin induces immunoregulatory cells and prevents diabetes in the NOD mouse.

The B-subunit of the cholera toxin molecule (CT-B) has T-cell immunomodulatory properties. Because the pathogenesis of diabetes in the nonobese diabetic (NOD) mouse model of IDDM is thought to be a T-cell-mediated process due to an imbalance of immunoregulatory and anti-islet effector cells, we examined the effect of CT-B administration on the development of diabetes in the NOD mouse and assessed whether this potential diabetes-sparing effect of CT-B is mediated by changes in immunoregulatory and/or anti-islet cytotoxic effector cell activity. The administration of either intravenous or intraperitoneal CT-B decreased the development of diabetes with no apparent drug toxicity. At 6 months of age, only 18% of CT-B vs. 75% of saline-treated animals had diabetes. Histopathological examination revealed less islet atrophy in CT-B-treated animals. The in vitro proliferative responses of mononuclear splenocytes and thymocytes to concanavalin A and lipolysaccharide and the proportion of B-cells and T-cell subsets were not altered by CT-B treatment. CT-B administration did not inhibit the primary immunization of mice to tetanus toxoid. The development of diabetes in irradiated NOD mice was slower in the animals injected with spleen cells (SC) from CT-B-treated than from saline-treated NOD mice, suggesting that CT-B decreases anti-islet effector cell activity. The injection of SC from CT-B-treated mice inhibited the adoptive transfer of diabetes by SC from diabetic mice into irradiated NOD mice, documenting that CT-B administration induces regulatory cell activity. In conclusion, CT-B administration prevents the development of diabetes in NOD mice by inhibiting the immune destruction of islets. This islet-sparing activity appears mediated, at least in part, by the induction of regulatory cells and, in turn, suppression of anti-islet effector cells, which is not associated with generalized immunosuppression or T- or B-cell depletion.

Effect of the in vivo priming regimen for peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) mobilization on in vitro generation of cytotoxic effectors by IL-2 activation of PBSC in a murine model.

Priming of patients with different PBSC mobilizing regimens leads to an increase by several fold in circulating hematopoietic progenitors in peripheral blood. However, the effect of these mobilizing regimens on lymphoid cells contained within the harvested PBSC population is not well understood. We have studied the effect of CY and/or G-CSF +/- IL-2 containing regimens on lymphoid cells, and their capacity to give rise to cytotoxic effectors on subsequent in vitro IL-2 activation in a murine model of PBSC mobilization. C57B1/6 mice were given CY 100 or 200 mg/kg on day 0 followed 48 h later by G-CSF 125 micrograms/kg twice a day and/or IL-2 60000 i.u. twice a day in different schedules. Mice were sacrificed on day 4, 6, 8 and 10 following CY and the number of hematopoietic progenitors mobilized to the spleens of these mice was assessed by CFC assay and cytotoxicity was evaluated by 4 h 51Cr release assay against both NK-sensitive (Yak-1), and NK-resistant (B16, C1498) cell lines after 24 h in vitro IL-2 activation in the presence of 6000 i.u./ml of IL-2. Peak numbers of CFC in the splenic PBSC population were seen on day 6 following CY. Administration of CY 200 mg/kg + GCSF, the most potent regimen for CFC mobilization, led to a marked decrease in proportion of CD3+ cells in day 6 PBSC as compared to controls (17.7% vs 3.9%) and was associated with a significant decrease in generation of cytotoxic cells after IL-2 activation. Combining IL-2 to CY + G-CSF prevented the marked loss in cytotoxicity associated with this regimen without any decrease in number of CFC mobilized. When IL-2 was combined with CY without G-CSF, the number of CFC mobilized was comparable to that seen with CY + G-CSF and these CY + IL-2 mobilized PBSC generated potent cytotoxic effectors after in vitro IL-2 activation. Thus our results indicate that combining IL-2 with a PBSC mobilizing regimen can avert a decrease in the cytotoxic potential of mobilized cells without compromising the number of hematopoietic progenitors.

Prevention of acute graft-versus-host disease by treatment with a novel immunosuppressant. Cholera toxin B subunit.

Transplantation of allogeneic bone marrow (BM) is often complicated by the development of acute graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) caused by contaminating T cells in BM inocula because of activation of the host reactive T effector cells. Using a murine model for acute GVHD caused by injection of parental C57Bl/6 splenocytes into unirradiated (C57Bl/6 x DBA/2) F1 hybrids, we demonstrated that pretreatment of the inocula with a novel immunosuppressant, B subunit of cholera toxin (CT-B) impaired the ability of C57Bl/6 T cells to induce acute GVHD in F1 recipients. F1 mice injected with CT-B-treated C57Bl/6 splenocytes did not develop significant splenomegaly, and no antihost CTLs were found in their spleens. Moreover, these mice did not suffer from aplastic anemia, nor from general immunosuppression. Immunofluorescence studies suggest that treatment of the inducing inocula with CT-B selectively prevents accumulation of the host-reactive CD8+ T cells in F1 mice. Furthermore, our experiments demonstrated that CT-B treatment does not impair the ability of BM progenitors to form colonies in semisolid culture or in lethally irradiated hosts. Thus, taken together, our data suggest that ex vivo CT-B treatment can be used in allogeneic BM transplantation to prevent acute GVHD.

Heregulin induces increase in sensitivity of an erbB-2-overexpressing breast cancer cell type to lysis by lymphokine-activated killer cells.

The erbB-2 oncoprotein is overexpressed in 30% of tumors from breast and ovarian cancer patients and it is related to poor overall and disease-free survival. In vitro studies on erbB-2-overexpressing cells have found a strong correlation between this oncogene overexpression and relative resistance to lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cell lysis. gp30/heregulin/NDF (neu differentiation factor), indirect activators of erbB-2, are able to induce a more differentiated phenotype on erbB-2-overexpressing, erbB-3- and/or erbB-4-positive breast cancer cells. We tested the ability of these highly homologous growth factors to stimulate LAK cell lysis of breast cancer cells. Our experiments demonstrated a marked increase in LAK cell cytotoxicity towards an erbB-2-overexpressing, erbB-3-positive cell line by treatment of these cells with heregulin for 72 h. In contrast we did not observe any enhancement of lysis of MCF-7, a cell line that does not overexpress erbB-2 and is positive for the erbB-3 and erbB-4 receptors, after treatment with heregulin. The increased lysis was associated with upregulation of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), down-regulation of erbB-2 and increased binding between breast cancer cells and LAK cells. Pre incubation of target (SKBR3) cells with blocking anti-ICAM-1 antibody completely abrogated the enhanced cytotoxicity. A similar effect was observed by pretreatment of the effector (LAK) cells with antibodies directed against LFA-1, the receptor for ICAM-1. These results suggest the possible utilization of gp30/heregulin in the treatment of breast cancer patients by its ability to stimulate patient immune responses.

Induction of tolerance to parental marrow grafts in F1 hybrid mice. Evidence for recognition of self-antigens.

Lethally irradiated (C57BL/6xC3H)F1 mice are able to acutely reject parental C57BL/6 but not C3H marrow grafts, a phenomenon called hybrid resistance (HR). In attempts to inactivate this rejection mechanism we found that parental spleen cells activated with LPS are very potent in inducing tolerance to a subsequent C57BL/6 marrow graft. Tolerance is likely due to elimination of effector cells responsible for graft rejection as adoptive transfer of spleen cells from normal into tolerized mice reconstitutes responsiveness. Evidence is presented that the Ag on LPS-activated spleen cells responsible for induction of unresponsiveness are expressed on both C57BL/6 and (C57BL/6xC3H)F1 cells. This suggests that the HR effector cells recognize autoantigens. In support of this, induction of tolerance to C57BL/6 parental marrow grafts leads to a concomitant dramatic increase in endogenous CFU-spleen after a dose of gamma-irradiation. Moreover, elimination of the cells responsible for HR by injection of anti-ASGM1 antibody results in a similar increase of endogenous CFU-spleen after irradiation. It is concluded that HR is a reflection of autoimmunity, able to limit the proliferation of syngeneic marrow stem cells.

Evidence for differentiation of NK1+ cells into cytotoxic T cells during acute rejection of allogeneic bone marrow grafts.

The ability of lethally irradiated C57BL/6 mice to acutely reject H-2d bone marrow is due to a lymphocyte population that is NK1+, ASGM1+, CD4-, CD8-, CD3+. Transfer of spleen cells from C57BL/6 mice expressing these antigens into nonresponder 129 mice adoptively transfers the ability to reject H-2d marrow grafts. The specificity of this rejection maps to the H-2D major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region. Transplantation of high doses of H-2d marrow into C57BL/6 overrides the acute rejection mechanism leading to graft survival. During growth of the graft, a cytolytic activity develops that is due to ASGM1+, CD8+ cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTLs) with H-2Ld specificity. The possibility that the ASGM1+, CD8+ CTLs are descendents of the CD3+, NK1+, ASGM1+, CD8- cells responsible for acute rejection is investigated by adoptive cell transfer experiments. We show that beige mice that lack NK1+ cells as well as the ability to acutely reject H-2d marrow fail to generate specific CTLs after transplantation with a high dose of H-2d marrow. Transfer of highly purified NK1+ cells from B6.PL-Ly-2a/Ly-3a (Lyt-2.1) into beige mice together with H-2d marrow leads to generation of Lyt-2.1 CTLs from donor NK1+ cells. These results show that specific CTLs are generated from NK1+ cells during acute marrow graft rejection.

A novel cell type responsible for marrow graft rejection in mice. T cells with NK phenotype cause acute rejection of marrow grafts.

Acute rejection of allogeneic and semiallogeneic marrow grafts has long been considered to be a function of the natural immune system because it shares many features with NK activity in mice. With the use of a recently developed in vivo adoptive transfer assay in which spleen cells are transferred from mice able to reject a particular marrow graft into mice that fail to do so, we show that the cells responsible for induction of marrow graft rejection indeed display the phenotype of NK cells: they lack the T cell Ag CD4 and CD8 but express the NK Ag NK1 and ASGM1. The rejection induced by adoptively transferred cells is exquisitely specific--a feature that points to a specific recognition process by the transferred cells. To elucidate what the recognition structure on these cells may be we found that they express CD3 and most likely the beta-chain of the TCR. Highly purified responder cells with the NK1+, CD3+, CD4-, CD8- phenotype, when transferred into nonresponder recipients, cause specific marrow graft rejection. We conclude that the acute rejection of bone marrow grafts is caused by a cell that expresses NK phenotype but is of T cell lineage. This may suggest the specificity of acute marrow graft rejection is caused by a specific recognition process that involves TCR.

Differential induction of programmed cell death in CD8+ and CD4+ T cells by the B subunit of cholera toxin.

We have recently demonstrated that a short-term treatment of parental splenocytes with the B subunit of cholera toxin (CT-B) abrogates the development of acute GVHD in F1 hybrid mice transplanted with these cells. In order to obtain better insight into the mechanism of the action of CT-B, we studied the effect of CT-B on survival of purified murine T cells and their subsets. We show that treatment with B subunit stimulates apoptosis in T cells, detectable following incubation in vitro. Although apoptosis was noticed in both CD8+ and CD4+ T cell subsets, the treatment preferentially stimulates programmed cell death (PCD) in CD8+ population. Thus, immunosuppressive action of CT-B in vivo may be in part due to its ability to eliminate CD8+ T cells.