Synergy among responding lymphoid cells in the one-way mixed lymphocyte reaction. Interaction between two types of thymus-dependent cells.

The present studies have shown that two subpopulations of thymus-dependent lymphocytes may act synergistically in the mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) in the mouse. One subpopulation was well represented in the young adult thymus and the other in lymph nodes. For optimum synergy, both populations must be allogeneic to the stimulator cells. Pretreatment of either population with mitomycin-C abolished synergy. Anti-theta serum abolished both MLR responding and synergizing activities of lymphoid cells. The two thymus-dependent subpopulations were both present in the spleen, and displayed different migratory patterns when injected into irradiated mice: one population went to spleens of the irradiated mice, the other to lymph nodes. The effects of anti-thymocyte serum on the MLR and upon synergy were assessed. While minor differences exist and are herein described, our overall results strongly suggest that in our experiments with synergy in MLR, we may be dealing with the same T(1)- and T(2)-cell subpopulations described by Cantor and Asofsky and coworkers (1, 2, 4, 5, 14) as displaying synergy in the graft-vs.-host reaction.