Suppression of cytotoxic response to histoincompatible cells. I. Evidence for two types of T lymphocyte-derived suppressors acting at different stages in the induction of a cytotoxic response.

Spleen and thymus cell populations from normal or allograft tolerant mice have been cultured for 5 days with specific alloantigens and examined for their reactivity in three assay systems. No consistent correlation was observed between the production of cytotoxic T cells (CTL) in these cultures and the ability of such cultured cells to inhibit specifically a CML response from fresh normal spleen cells directed to the priming alloantigens. Furthermore, suppressor cells measured in this latter assay were apparently distinct from those able to inhibit the production of cytotoxic lymphocyte precursors (CTLp) from bone marrow stem cells in lethally irradiated bone marrow protected mice. Velocity sedimentation experiments confirmed that both the precursor and effector cells for the two suppressor systems were physically separable, and were distinct from CTLp or CTL, respectively. Precursor cells for the two suppressor systems investigated belong to the short-lived cortical thymus cell population.