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Cellular Analysis of Immunosuppression to Synthetic Polypeptide Immunogens Induced by a Murine Leukemia Virus¹

Department of Chemical Immunology, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

Abstract

Adult SJL/J mice were injected intraperitoneally with a leukemogenic virus (that causes lymphatic leukemia in SJL/J mice) prepared from irradiated syngeneic donors. One month later, the animals were either immunized with the multichain synthetic polypeptide poly(LTyr, LGlu)-polyLPro-polyLLys, abbreviated (T,G)-Pro-L, or were used as donors of spleen, thymus, and/or bone marrow cells in transfer experiments. The virus-treated mice exhibited reduced anti-(T,G)-Pro-L titers compared to the responses of control animals. The immunosuppressive effects of the leukemogenic agent were strain-specific, since a radiation leukemia virus preparation from C57BL/6 mice had no effect in SJL/J animals. The suppressed responses of the virus-treated mice were not affected by injection of either poly adenylic: poly uridylic acid or thioglycolate, although they were abolished by complexing the immunogen to methylated bovine serum albumin.

Results of the transfer experiments indicated that the immunosuppressive effects were expressed at the immunocompetent cell level, and that the virus affected both the thymus- and marrow-derived populations of immunocytes. The immunosuppressive effects on marrow cells independent of any contribution by helper cells of thymic origin were verified with a thymus-independent synthetic polypeptide composed of D amino acids.

Footnotes

¹ This work was supported by Agreement 06-035 with the National Institutes of Health, United States Public Health Service and by a grant from the Talisman Foundation, Inc.

² Conducted during the tenure of American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship PF-524. Present address: Immunology Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014.

³ Send correspondence to: Dr.Edna Mozes, Department of Chemical Immunology, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.