Antigen recognition. V. Requirement for histocompatibility between antigen-presenting cell and B cell in the response to a thymus-dependent antigen, and lack of allogeneic restriction between T and B cells.

The restrictions imposed by the major histocompatibility complex on T-B-antigen-presenting cell (APC) interactions were studied with an in vivo adoptive transfer system, using mutually tolerant T and B cells taken from one-way fetal liver chimeras. It was found that the B cells and adoptive recipient (which provides APC function) have to share determinants encoded by the left-hand end of the H-2 complex for cooperation, whereas there is apparently no such requirement for T-B cell syngeneicity. Suppression arising from allogeneic effects between the host and the transferred T or B cells was excluded by the use of tolerant as well as normal adoptive recipients; both were functionally equivalent. We conclude that under experimental conditions, unrestricted helper T cell function and concurrent APC-B cell genetic restriction can be demonstrated in vivo.