Neonatal tolerance of major histocompatibility complex antigens alters Ir gene control of the cytotoxic T cell response to vaccinia virus.

The K region of H-2 controls the Tc cell response to vaccinia-Db. The Kb, Kd, and Kq alleles allow good Tc cell responses against vaccinia-Db. In contrast, the presence of Kk in H-2 recombinants 2R (Kk,Db) and 4R (Kk,Db) or in F1 hybrids greatly reduces the anti-vaccinia-Db response. The defect does not lie in antigen presentation, as infected 4R cells can stimulate anti-vaccinia-Db Tc cells in vitro. Furthermore, nonresponder animals possess Tc cell precursors for vaccinia-Db, as transfer of F1 nonresponder spleen cells into infected, lethally irradiated responder recipients allowed generation of anti-vaccinia-Db effector Tc cells. Secondary responses to vaccinia-Db can also be obtained in vitro from T cells of 4R animals. Feedback inhibition was excluded in experiments with mixed chimeras in which Kk and Db were expressed on separate cell populations. Neonatal tolerance of B10 animals to Kk suppressed the anti-vaccinia-Db response but did not affect anti-vaccinia-Kb, anti-lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, or anti-H-2d responses. In cold target competition experiments, H-2k competitors inhibited vaccinia-Db-specific target cell lysis by Tc cells, which suggests that anti-vaccinia-Db and anti-H-2Kk Tc cells may cross-react. Therefore, we propose that the suppressive influence of Kk on anti-vaccinia-Db Tc cell responses is a consequence of self-tolerance and that suppression of anti-Kk Tc cells results in cross-reactive suppression of anti-vaccinia-Db Tc cells.