The mechanism of in vitro T helper cell type 1 to T helper cell type 2 switching in highly polarized Leishmania major-specific T cell populations.

We have previously demonstrated that highly polarized CD4+ Th1 cells isolated from Leishmania major-infected mice could be switched to a Th2-like phenotype when cultured for 1 wk in the presence of APC, L. major Ag, and IL-4, suggesting that the reversion of a differentiated Th response could occur at the population level. To investigate the cellular basis for this population switch, CD4+ lymph node cells from Th1-polarized L. major-infected mice were separated into two subsets based on the level of expression of L-selectin (Mel-14), and each subset was stimulated with APC and IL-2 for 1 wk in the presence or the absence of IL-4. Mel-14low T cells contained all of the initial Th1 activity and retained their Th1 phenotype when cultured with IL-4. In contrast, Mel-14high T cells did not produce cytokines upon challenge with L. major Ag, but gave rise to a Th2-like population after culture with IL-4. Thus, the newly induced Th2 population was derived from undifferentiated cells distinct from the Th1 cells present in the starting population. This undifferentiated Th precursors could be induced to develop into either Th1 or Th2 cells and were not recent thymic emigrants as they were present in mice thymectomized before infection. These experiments show that a chronically stimulated and highly polarized Th1 population consisted of both precursor T cells able to differentiate into Th2 cells and cells fully differentiated into Th1 cells that could not be induced to switch their pattern of cytokine production.