Features of renal vasculitis in autoimmune MRL lpr/lpr mice: phenotypes and functional properties of infiltrating cells.

MRL lpr/lpr (MRL/1) mice spontaneously develop a widespread renal vasculitis. The majority of the cells in vasculitic lesions are bright Ly-1, L3T4 and la-positive in contrast to the cells found in lymph nodes and spleens of the old MRL/1 mice. However, despite differences in phenotypical patterns, B and T cells from arteritic lesions do not differ from mononuclear cells (MNC) eluted from MRL/1 lymph nodes with regard to the frequency of IgG secreting cells and the proliferative responses to Concanavalin A (Con A). Co-culture experiments with congeneic MRL+/+ (MRL/n) spleen cells indicate that the poor response to Con A of the MNC eluted from vasculitic lesions is, unlike the case of lymph node MNC, due to suppressive action of vasculitic cells on the indicator cell population. Further support for the activation status of infiltrating MHC in kidney vasculitic lesions, expressed by high in vivo uptake of 3H-thymidine, was obtained by autoradiography performed on frozen sections. The observed differences in phenotypic patterns and functional features between lymph node MNC and infiltrating vasculitic MNC indicate that different immune mechanisms may be responsible for the development of lymphadenopathy and vasculopathy, respectively in MRL/1 mouse.