Transfer of anti-DNA-producing B cells from NZB to unmanipulated xid recipients: effects of age, sex, and environment.

NZB mice have been extensively studied in an attempt to understand the pathogenesis of systemic autoimmune disease. In a recent report we demonstrated that NZB B cells would engraft and function when transferred to unmanipulated NZB.xid recipients. Anti-DNA-producing donor B cells expanded dramatically in the NZB.xid recipients. The present study examines the requirements for this expansion. We found that the age and sex of the donor were important: NZB mice less than 2 weeks of age had fewer anti-DNA-secreting precursors than did older mice; male donors had 10-fold fewer precursors than did females of the same age. An effect of the recipient environment on donor cell expansion also was noted: male recipients allowed much less expansion of anti-DNA-producing cells than did female recipients. Castration of the male recipients led to an increase in rate of expansion, suggesting that androgens played a role in regulating lymphocyte proliferation and/or activation. These studies demonstrate that anti-DNA precursors increase with age under the influence of host factors.