Immunodeficiency in graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). II. Effects of GVHD-induced suppressor cells on CD4+ T cell clones.

Lethally irradiated mice transplanted with H-2-matched, minor histocompatibility-disparate bone marrow develop graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) that is associated with severe immunodeficiency. Splenocytes from such mice contain radioresistant cells that profoundly suppress normal lymphocyte function. We now show that GVHD-induced suppressor cells also inhibit the proliferation of CD4+ T cell clones specific for different Ag and class II MHC determinants. These suppressors have a dominant anti-proliferative effect, because they inhibit DNA synthesis in response to receptor-mediated stimulation and growth-promoting lymphokines, without abolishing lymphokine secretion or lymphokine receptor expression by the cloned T cells. The implications of these findings, and the usefulness of T cell clones for studying immune suppression, are discussed.