Adoptive transfer of the diseases of New Zealand black mice to normal mouse strains.

Lymphoid cells from New Zealand Black (NZB) and (C57BL × NZB)F mice with Coombs positive haemolytic anaemia and the other disease features of these strains, and also cells from young NZB mice without established disease, were transferred to BALB/c and C57BL recipients treated with anti-lymphocyte globulin. Donor strain skin grafts and anti-allotype antibody to (C57BL × NZB)F IgG were used to assess the fate of the transferred lymphoid cells. Haematological, serological, biochemical and histological criteria were used to indicate successful transfer of NZB disease to the normal recipients. Spleen cells from old NZB mice which survived in BALB/c recipients transferred the full disease picture of the donor. A less complete, but nevertheless wide, spectrum of abnormalitie was induced in other recipient groups. NZB lymphoid cells exposed to anti-lymphocyte globulin before transfer and cell-free filtrates were virtually innocuous. The findings make it unlikely that graft--host disease or anti-lymphocyte globulin itself could account for the abnormalities in the recipients. It seems probable that two factors determined the disease picture in the recipients, namely virus infection, differing widely in its extent and distribution, and the nature of the host response which in turn was determined by the duration of NZB lymphoid cell survival following transfer.