Immune response in experimentally induced uremia. II. Suppression of PHA response in uremia is mediated by an adherent, Ia-negative and indomethacin-insensitive suppressor cell.

The characteristics of the adherent suppressor cell in uremic rats were examined. We found that: 1) adherent spleen cells from uremic rats display a more potent suppressor activity than do control adherent cells; 2) the suppression that is mediated by uremic adherent spleen cells cannot be eliminated by pretreatment with indomethacin, whereas the suppression that is mediated by naturally present adherent cells in the control rat is reversed by pretreatment with indomethacin; 3) the uremic adherent suppressor cell does not have Ia antigens that can be detected by the monoclonal antibodies OXL, whereas control adherent cells have Ia antigens on their surface; 4) both the control and uremic adherent suppressor cells are insensitive to mitomycin C and do not have any detectable levels of Thy 1 antigens on their surface. It appears that immune suppression in uremic rats is mediated by an adherent cell that differs from adherent cells present in control animals. The suppression in uremic rats is either not mediated by prostaglandins or may be mediated by preformed prostaglandin synthetase products.