Characterization of a suppressor cell line which downgrades experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis in the rat.

A Ts lymphocyte line was isolated from spleens of rats primed with the retinal soluble Ag (SAg) in the anterior chamber of the eye. This line could inhibit in vitro SAg-driven proliferation of uveitogenic Th lymphocytes, in a radioresistant, Ag-independent manner. Adoptively transferred Ts line cells were found to downgrade experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis in actively immunized syngeneic recipients. The initial surface phenotype (OX8+) of the Ts line was unstable in vitro, however, the cells expressed suppressor function irrespective of phenotype. The mechanism of suppression did not appear to involve consumption of IL-2 or direct cytolysis of uveitogenic Th lymphocytes, but rather the production of a soluble suppressor factor. These findings may suggest an in vivo role for suppressor lymphocytes, capable of inhibiting primed Th cells, in the regulation of experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis.