B cells from M167 mu kappa transgenic mice fail to proliferate after stimulation with soluble anti-Ig antibodies. A model for antigen-induced B cell anergy.

The transgenic (TG) mouse strain 207-4, carries mu a + kappa transgenes ligated to the anti-phosphocholine (PC) VH1 and V kappa 24 V region genes from the MOPC-167 myeloma. Although B cells from mice carrying these transgenes respond both in vivo and in vitro to thymus-dependent Ags, they failed to proliferate in response to soluble goat anti-mu Ab or other soluble anti-Ig reagents. On the other hand, B cells from the Sp6 mu kappa anti-trinitrophenyl TG mouse line proliferated normally after stimulation with soluble anti-mu. However, the 207-4 anti-PC transgene positive (TG+) splenic B cells proliferated when stimulated with anti-mu, anti-idiotype, anti-allotype, or PC-conjugated to Sepharose beads. TG+ B cells were also induced to proliferate when stimulated with anti-Lyb-2; thus, their defect may be restricted to signaling through sigM. The lack of response to soluble anti-mu could not be reversed by addition of IL-4, by removal of T cells, by addition of anti-FcR Ab, or by stimulation with F(ab')2 anti-mu. Thus, the failure to proliferate was not caused by active T cell suppression or FcR-mediated inhibition. In mixed cultures of TG+ and transgene negative (TG-) spleen cells, the TG- cells were able to proliferate normally to soluble anti-mu, indicating that suppressive factors were not involved in the unresponsiveness of the TG+ anti-PC-specific B cells. These studies suggest that B cells in the 207-4 anti-PC TG mice exhibit a defect in activation through their sIgM receptors, and this unresponsiveness may reflect a form of Ag-induced tolerance.