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Suppressor Cells in the Rabbit Appendix¹

From the Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, and the Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143

Abstract

Rabbit appendix cells added to cultures of spleen cells, primed in vivo to sheep red blood cells, horse red blood cells, or azo-phenyl -lactoside-keyhole limpet hemocyanin suppressed the secondary in vitro response of the spleen cells to the test antigen. In the sheep red blood cell system, suppression of the IgM response was found to be less than that of the IgG response and was independent from it. Although suppression of both the IgG and IgM responses could be demonstrated when appendix cells were added at the onset of culture or 24 hr after culture initiation, suppression of the IgM response was less when appendix cells were added 48 hr after culture initiation. Two lines of evidence indicated that a T cell population was involved in the suppression observed: a) complement-dependent cytolysis by antithymocyte serum of appendix cells reduced the degree of suppression produced, and b) appendix cell suspensions, enriched for T cells by nylon wool column adsorption of B cells, had enhanced suppressor activity. Suppressor cell activity was also found in spleen and Peyer's patches. The observation that normal cell populations of appendix, spleen, and Peyer's patches were capable of suppressing the secondary in vitro response to azo-phenyl -lactoside, indicated a general rather than an antigen-specific suppression. It is proposed that the suppressor activity of the appendix may be a key function of this organ.

Footnotes

¹ Supported by Grants AI-09145, HD-05894, and AM-16213 from the United States Public Health Service.

² Supported by Predoctoral Fellowship 5 FO1 GM44-185 from the National Institutes of Health.

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