Murine interstitial nephritis. II. The adoptive transfer of disease with immune T lymphocytes produces a phenotypically complex interstitial lesion.

The present studies demonstrate that immune Thy-1.2+, Lyt-1.2+ T lymphocytes harvested from SJL mice with anti-tubular basement membrane disease can adoptively transfer interstitial nephritis into naive recipients. The lesions produced after cell transfer do not occur immediately but rather take 4 to 6 wk to fully develop. Interstitial lesions can also be transferred to a lesser degree and over a longer period of time with immune serum containing anti-tubular basement membrane antibodies. The fully formed lesions that developed after the transfer of immune cells or serum were phenotypically characterized by cell-surface antibodies using immunofluorescence. T lymphocytes, natural killer cells, macrophages, and Ig+ cells were all well represented in both lesions. Natural killer cells, however, were slightly more prevalent in the lesions of mice receiving immune serum. These experiments demonstrate a potential role for both immune T lymphocytes and anti-tubular basement membrane antibodies in the development of interstitial nephritis in mice. Unlike guinea pigs and rats, it is only in mice that interstitial lesions can be adoptively transferred with immune T lymphocytes, and as such, this model should prove very useful in the additional dissection of cellular interactions and immunoregulatory events that formulate the final effector mechanisms of disease expression.