Antigen receptors on murine T lymphocytes in contact sensitivity. I. Functional inhibition of effector T cells by monovalent 2,4-dinitrophenol: implication for a two-receptor model.

Experiments were done to investigate the nature of the antigen receptor on lymph node(LN) T cells from mice sensitized to 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB). LN cells or purified T cells were treated in vitro with monovalent or different multivalent 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) ligands. The effect of this treatment was measured by testing the ability of the cells to transfer contact sensitivity (CS) to DNFB into naive recipients. We found that treatment of the T cells in vitro with either epsilon-DNP-L-lysine or DNP-protein conjugates inhibits the transfer of CS in a dose-dependent way. The inhibition is hapten specific and is not mediated by activation of suppressor cells. Inhibition of the T cells by hapten in vitro is rapid (15-30 min) and temperature independent but requires divalent cations in the treatment medium. In addition, it was found that hapten-treated T cells are unable to adsorb specific anti-idiotype antibody, and this inhibition of adsorption is hapten specific. Collectively, these data indicate that DNFB-immune T cells express a receptor specific for the hapten DNP and provide evidence that supports a two-receptor model for T cell recognition of antigen.