Lymphocyte function in experimental African trypanosomiasis. VII. Loss of antigen-nonspecific suppressor-T-cell activity.

The extent of immunosuppression occurring in mice infected with the pathogenic African trypanosomes was studied. Spleen cells from Trypanosoma rhodesiense-infected C57BL/6J mice were tested for antigen-nonspecific suppressor-T-cell (Ts) activity after concanavalin A (Con A) treatment in vitro. After exposure to Con A, control and infected mouse spleen cells were added to responder spleen cell cultures stimulated with sheep erythrocytes (SRBC). Assays for the resultant plaque-forming cell responses to SRBC revealed that antigen-nonspecific Ts activity was lost during the first week of infection. Changes in infected mouse T-cell subpopulations, including a terminal loss of Lyt 2.2+ cells, accompanied but did not precede the demonstrable loss of Ts function. Splenic suppressor macrophages which arise during infections with T. rhodesiense also did not seem to be associated with the loss of antigen-nonspecific Ts activity. It is concluded that the generalized immunosuppression associated with experimental African trypanosomiasis extends to the mitogen-induced Ts population.