Selective suppression of allotype expression induced in vitro: maintenance of suppression following adoptive transfer.

The question of the ultimate fate of lymphocytes subjected to treatment with anti-allotype antibody (Ab) has been investigated by means of an adoptive transfer system that uses noninbred rabbits matched for major histocompatibility antigens and mismatched for allotype. Suppression of b4 immunoglobulin (Ig) production was induced by incubating lymphocytes from b4b5 rabbits with anti-b4 in culture. Transfer of b4-suppressed cells to newborn recipients of allotype b6b6 resulted in stable chimerism of mixed donor-recipient allotypes, in which b4 Ig production remained suppressed. In recipients of non-Ab-treated cells, b4 Ig production predominated over b5, as had been the case in the intact donor. No evidence for stimulation of b4 Ig synthesis was seen, even when lymphocytes and serum from 1-week-old recipients were examined. When lymphoid cells of antigen-primed b4b5 donors were treated with anti-b4 in vitro and transferred, Ab production of the b4 type was specifically suppressed, with compensatory over-production by Ab-forming cells of the b5 type. The results reported here indicate that although anti-allotype Ab is not directly cytotoxic, a significant proportion of the b4-committed cells were irreversibly inactivated as a result of Ab pulse treatment.