The effects of cyclosporin on lymphocyte activation in a systemic graft-vs.-host reaction.

We have investigated the effects of cyclosporin (CsA) on each of three stages of lymphocyte activation in vivo viz. sequestration of alloantigen-reactive lymphocytes from the circulation into the spleen and lymph nodes, blast transformation and induction of DNA synthesis in the activated cells and release of these cells and their progeny into the circulation. Parental strain lymphocytes injected i.v. into semi-allogeneic rats and recovered from the thoracic duct within 36 h are profoundly unresponsive in a local graft-vs.-host assay to the alloantigens of the F1 hybrid but have normal activity against unrelated alloantigens (negative selection). CsA treatment of the F1 hybrid recipients did not prevent this selective sequestration of antigen-reactive cells. In the untreated F1 hybrid, from 36 h after injection, large numbers of dividing blast cells were released into the lymph. These cells did not appear in the lymph of recipients treated with CsA. However, CsA did not prevent the activation of cells sequestered in the spleen or lymph nodes as assessed by [3H] thymidine incorporation and autoradiography. This unexpected finding suggests that CsA inhibits lymphocyte responses to alloantigens in vivo after DNA synthesis which is a later stage than the in vitro studies have shown.