Cholera toxin-induced tolerance to allografts in mice.

When C3H/HeN (C3H) mice were primed with viable C57BL/6 (B6) spleen cells and treated with cholera toxin (CT) on the same day, a profound tolerance to tumour allografts of B6 origin was induced. The tolerant state was sustained for as long as 6 weeks or more. Skin allografts of B6 were rejected by such tolerant C3H mice, although the survival times were prolonged very slightly. Generation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes was reduced markedly in the tolerant mice, whereas delayed footpad reaction to B6 cells was maintained at the normal immune level or higher. There is a possibility that a T-cell subset responsible for delayed footpad reaction is resistant to CT-induced tolerance and participates in the rejection of skin allografts in tolerant mice.