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Biomedical subjects

G F Mitchell

Publications and source records attributed to G F Mitchell.

At least 271 records · Page 15Linked to original sources

Genetic control of the immune response. The effect of thymectomy on the primary and secondary antibody response of mice to poly-L(tyr, glu)-poly-D, L-ala--poly-L-lys.

The effect of thymectomy on the genetically controlled murine immune response-1 (Ir-1) to the synthetic polypeptide poly-L(Tyr, Glu)-poly-D, L-Ala--poly-L-Lys [(T, G)-A--L] was studied with both aqueous and adjuvant immunization regimens. Adult thymectomy (combined with irradiation and bone marrow transfusion) did not affect the aqueous antigen-induced (IgM) primary response of either high or low responder mice, but did ablate the (IgG) secondary or tertiary response, a response which is restricted to the high responder strains. Adult thymectomy also blocked the normal high response to (T,G)-A--L in Freund's adjuvant in high responder mice and the high response to methylated bovine serum albumin (MBSA)-(T,G)-A--L in low responder mice. Neonatal thymectomy was also effective in blocking the response to (T, G)-A--L in Freund's adjuvant in high responder mice. These data are consistent with the concept that the Ir-1 gene effect is mediated via thymus cell interaction with antigen and with "B"-cells during the time of induction of IgG antibody formation.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗

Cell interaction in an immune response in vitro: requirement for theta-carrying cells.

Cytotoxic antiserum to theta antigen reduces the capacity of mouse spleen cells to generate direct and indirect plaque-forming cells to sheep erythrocytes in vitro but does not affect plaque-forming cells, their precursors, or hemopoietic stem cells. The response of spleen cells treated with antiserum to theta antigen is restored by thymus cells incubated in vivo with sheep erythrocytes.

Animals↗

Cell to cell interaction in the immune response. V. Target cells for tolerance induction.

Collaboration between thymus-derived lymphocytes, and nonthymus-derived antibody-forming cell precursors occurs during the immune response of mice to sheep erythrocytes (SRBC). The aim of the experiments reported here was to attempt to induce tolerance in each of the two cell populations to determine which cell type dictates the specificity of the response. Adult mice were rendered specifically tolerant to SRBC by treatment with one large dose of SRBC followed by cyclophosphamide. Attempts to restore to normal their anti-SRBC response by injecting lymphoid cells from various sources were unsuccessful. A slight increase in the response was, however, obtained in recipients of thymus or thoracic duct lymphocytes and a more substantial increase in recipients of spleen cells or of a mixture of thymus or thoracic duct cells and normal marrow or spleen cells from thymectomized donors. Thymus cells from tolerant mice were as effective as thymus cells from normal or cyclophosphamide-treated controls in enabling neonatally thymectomized recipients to respond to SRBC and in collaborating with normal marrow cells to allow a response to SRBC in irradiated mice. Tolerance was thus not achieved at the level of thelymphocyte population within the thymus, perhaps because of insufficient penetration of the thymus by the antigens concerned. By contrast, thoracic duct lymphocytes from tolerant mice failed to restore to normal the response of neonatally thymectomized recipients to SRBC. Tolerance is thus a property that can be linked specifically to thymus-derived cells as they exist in the mobile pool of recirculating lymphocytes outside the thymus. Thymus-derived cells are thus considered capable of recognizing and specifically reacting with antigenic determinants. Marrow cells from tolerant mice were as effective as marrow cells from cyclophosphamide-treated or normal controls in collaborating with normal thymus cells to allow a response to SRBC in irradiated recipients. When a mixture of thymus or thoracic duct cells and lymph node cells was given to irradiated mice, the response to SRBC was essentially the same whether the lymph node cells were derived from tolerant donors or from thymectomized irradiated, marrow-protected donors. Attempts to induce tolerance to SRBC in adult thymectomized, irradiated mice 3-4 wk after marrow protection, by treatment with SRBC and cyclophosphamide, were unsuccessful: after injection of thoracic duct cells, a vigorous response to SRBC occurred. The magnitude of the response was the same whether or not thymus cells had been given prior to the tolerization regime. The various experimental designs have thus failed to demonstrate specific tolerance in the nonthymus-derived lymphocyte population. Several alternative possibilities were discussed. Perhaps such a population does not contain cells capable of dictating the specificity of the response. This was considered unlikely. Alternatively, tolerance may have been achieved but soon masked by a rapid, thymus-independent, differentiation of marrow-derived lymphoid stem cells. On the other hand, tolerance may not have occurred simply because the induction of tolerance, like the induction of antibody formation, requires the collaboration of thymus-derived cells. Finally, tolerance in the nonthymus-derived cell population may never be achieved because the SRBC-cyclophosphamide regime specifically eliminates thymus-derived cells leaving the antibody-forming cell precursors intact but unable to react with antigen as there are no thymus-derived cells with which to interact.

Animals↗

Cell to cell interaction in the immune response. I. Hemolysin-forming cells in neonatally thymectomized mice reconstituted with thymus or thoracic duct lymphocytes.

An injection of viable thymus or thoracic duct lymphocytes was absolutely essential to enable a normal or near-normal 19S liemolysin-forming cell response in the spleens of neonatally thymectomized mice challenged with sheep erythrocytes. Syngeneic thymus lymphocytes were as effective as thoracic duct lymphocytes in this system and allogeneic or semiallogeneic cells could also reconstitute their hosts. No significant elevation of the response was achieved by giving either bone marrow cells, irradiated thymus or thoracic duct cells, thymus extracts or yeast. Spleen cells from reconstituted mice were exposed to anti-H2 sera directed against either the donor of the thymus or thoracic duct cells, or against the neonatally thymectomized host. Only isoantisera directed against the host could significantly reduce the number of hemolysin-forming cells present in the spleen cell suspensions. It is concluded that these antibody-forming cells are derived, not from the inoculated thymus or thoracic duct lymphocytes, but from the host. Thoracic duct cells from donors specifically immunologically tolerant of sheep erythrocytes had a markedly reduced restorative capacity in neonatally thymectomized recipients challenged with sheep erythrocytes. These results have suggested that there are cell types, in thymus or thoracic duct lymph, with capacities to react specifically with antigen and to induce the differentiation, to antibody-forming cells, of hemolysin-forming cell precursors derived from a separate cell line present in the neonatally thymectomized hosts.

Animals↗

Cell to cell interaction in the immune response. II. The source of hemolysin-forming cells in irradiated mice given bone marrow and thymus or thoracic duct lymphocytes.

The number of discrete hemolytic foci and of hemolysin-forming cells arising in the spleens of heavily irradiated mice given sheep erythrocytes and either syngeneic thymus or bone marrow was not significantly greater than that detected in controls given antigen alone. Thoracic duct cells injected with sheep erythrocytes significantly increased the number of hemolytic foci and 10 million cells gave rise to over 1000 hemolysin-forming cells per spleen. A synergistic effect was observed when syngeneic thoracic duct cells were mixed with syngeneic marrow cells: the number of hemolysin-forming cells produced in this case was far greater than could be accounted for by summating the activities of either cell population given alone. The number of hemolytic foci produced by the mixed population was not however greater than that produced by an equivalent number of thoracic duct cells given without bone marrow. Thymus cells given together with syngeneic bone marrow enabled irradiated mice to produce hemolysin-forming cells but were much less effective than the same number of thoracic duct cells. Likewise syngeneic thymus cells were not as effective as thoracic duct cells in enabling thymectomized irradiated bone marrow-protected hosts to produce hemolysin-forming cells in response to sheep erythrocytes. Irradiated recipients of semiallogeneic thoracic duct cells produced hemolysin-forming cells of donor-type as shown by the use of anti-H2 sera. The identity of the hemolysin-forming cells in the spleens of irradiated mice receiving a mixed inoculum of semiallogeneic thoracic duct cells and syngeneic marrow was not determined because no synergistic effect was obtained in these recipients in contrast to the results in the syngeneic situation. Thymectomized irradiated mice protected with bone marrow for a period of 2 wk and injected with semiallogeneic thoracic duct cells together with sheep erythrocytes did however produce a far greater number of hemolysin-forming cells than irradiated mice receiving the same number of thoracic duct cells without bone marrow. Anti-H2 sera revealed that the antibody-forming cells arising in the spleens of these thymectomized irradiated hosts were derived, not from the injected thoracic duct cells, but from bone marrow. It is concluded that thoracic duct lymph contains a mixture of cell types: some are hemolysin-forming cell precursors and others are antigen-reactive cells which can interact with antigen and initiate the differentiation of hemolysin-forming cell precursors to antibody-forming cells. Bone marrow contains only precursors of hemolysin-forming cells and thymus contains only antigen-reactive cells but in a proportion that is far less than in thoracic duct lymph.

Animals↗

Cell to cell interaction in the immune response. 3. Chromosomal marker analysis of single antibody-forming cells in reconstituted, irradiated, or thymectomized mice.

Two new methods are described for making chromosomal spreads of single antibody-forming cells. The first depends on the controlled rupture of cells in small microdroplets through the use of a mild detergent and application of a mechanical stress on the cell. The second is a microadaptation of the conventional Ford technique. Both methods have a success rate of over 50%, though the quality of chromosomal spreads obtained is generally not as good as with conventional methods. These techniques have been applied to an analysis of cell to cell interaction in adoptive immune responses, using the full syngeneic transfer system provided by the use of CBA and CBA/T6T6 donor-recipient combinations. When neonatally thymectomized mice were restored to adequate immune responsiveness to sheep erythrocytes by injections of either thymus cells or thoracic duct lymphocytes, it was shown that all the actual dividing antibody-forming cells were not of donor but of host origin. When lethally irradiated mice were injected with chromosomally marked but syngeneic mixtures of thymus and bone marrow cells, a rather feeble adoptive immune response ensued; all the antibody-forming cells identified were of bone marrow origin. When mixtures of bone marrow cells and thoracic duct lymphocytes were used, immune restoration was much more effective, and over three-quarters of the antibody-forming mitotic figures carried the bone marrow donor chromosomal marker. The results were deemed to be consistent with the conclusions derived in the previous paper of this series, namely that thymus contains some, but a small number only of antigen-reactive cells (ARC), bone marrow contains antibody-forming cell precursors (AFCP) but no ARC, and thoracic duct lymph contains both ARC and AFCP with a probable predominance of the former. A vigorous immune response to sheep erythrocytes probably requires a collaboration between the two cell lineages, involving proliferation first of the ARC and then of the AFCP. The results stressed that the use of large numbers of pure thoracic duct lymphocytes in adoptive transfer work could lead to good adoptive immune responses, but that such results should not be construed as evidence against cell collaboration hypotheses. Some possible further uses of single cell chromosome techniques were briefly discussed.

Animals↗

Schistosome circulating anodic antigen in serum of individuals infected with Schistosoma japonicum from the Philippines before and after chemotherapy with praziquantel.

The presence of the schistosome circulating anodic antigen (CAA) in serum of patients infected with Schistosoma japonicum from The Philippines has been investigated using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Serum samples were tested from 48 patients who excreted S. japonicum eggs, 9 individuals with a negative stool examination, and 20 controls with both a negative stool and a negative circumoval precipitin test. No false positive result was detected for the unequivocally negative controls. CAA could be demonstrated in 72.9% of the egg-excreting patients. A positive correlation between parasite burden (eggs per gram of faeces) and antigen level (CAA titre) was found (Spearman's rho = 0.48, P < 0.001, n = 48). Four of 18 sera from the egg-negative individuals were positive in the ELISA. In view of the fact that anti-worm antibodies were also detected in these 4 sera, those reactions suggest active infection not detected by stool examination. In serum from patients treated with praziquantel, a significant drop in CAA titre was seen within 5 d after treatment (Wilcoxon's chi T = -2.23, P = 0.0258, n = 21). In conclusion, the detection of CAA by ELISA in S. japonicum infection can give valuable information in both individual diagnosis and therapeutic drug monitoring, as well as in epidemiological studies or disease control programmes.

Adolescent↗