Immunological tolerance in bone marrow-derived lymphocytes. I. Evidence for an intracellular mechanism of inactivation of hapten-specific precursors of antibody-forming cells.

Administration of the 2,4-dinitrophenyl (DNP) derivative of the copolymer of D-glutamic acid and D-lysine (D-GL) to inbred mice induces a state of DNP-specific tolerance in such animals irrespective of their immune status at the time of treatment. Taking advantage of the relative ease with which DNP-D-GL can induce tolerance in an animal previously primed with an immunogenic DNP-carrier conjugate, we have established conditions for tolerance induction in an adoptive cell transfer system. Thus, the adoptive secondary anti-DNP antibody response of DNP-keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH)-primed spleen cells was completely, or almost completely, abolished by exposure of such cells to DMP-D-GL either in vivo or in vitro. Tolerance induction in vivo occurred irrespective of whether the DNP-primed cells were exposed to DNP-D-GL in the donor animal before adoptive transfer or in recipient mice after transfer. In the latter situation, it was possible to show that tolerance induction in this model occurs very rapidly (1 hr) and with relatively low doses of tolerogen (50 microg). Incubation of DNP-KLH-primed cells with DNP-D-GL in vitro under varying culture conditions also resulted in depression of the adoptive secondary response of such cells, although the kinetics and degree of tolerance induction in this way were slightly different from that obtained by in vivo tolerization. Utilizing the adoptive transfer tolerance system, it was possible to approach certain questions concerning the mechanism of tolerance induction and fate of tolerant bone marrow-derived (B) lymphocytes in the DNP-D-GL model. The possibility that suppression of anti-DNP antibody from the DNP-D-GL reflects blocking of surface receptor molecules on B lymphocytes has been ruled out by several experimental observations. The most conclusive evidence on this point derives from the failure of enzymatic treatment with trypsin to reverse the tolerant state induced by in vitro exposure of primed cells to DNP-D-GL, whereas trypsinization completely restored the immunocompetence of DNP-KLH-primed cells rendered unresponsive by exposure to DNP-ovalbumin in vitro. The present studies also demonstrate that the tolerant state induced by DNP-D-GL represents a predominantly irreversible inactivation of specific B lymphocytes. This conclusion is derived from experiments in which it was found that tolerance was maintained through as many as two serial adoptive transfers performed over a period of time of at least 24 days from the single exposure of such cells to the tolerogen. Moreover, the possibility that maintenance of tolerance through such serial transfers was due to inadvertent transfer of tolerogenic doses of DNP-D-GL was definitively ruled out. It appears, therefore, that DNP-specific tolerance induced by DNP-D-GL is an example of irreversible inhibition of cell reactivity to antigen reflecting yet-to-be-determined events at the intra- and subcellular levels.