Suppression of unprimed T and B cells in antibody responses by irradiation-resistant and plastic-adherent suppressor cells in Toxoplasma gondii-infected mice.

In the acute phase of Toxoplasma infection, the function of both helper T and B cells was suppressed in primary antibody responses to dinitrophenol (DNP)-conjugated protein antigens. During the course of infection, the suppressive effect on T cells seems to continue longer than that on B cells, since suppression in responses to sheep erythrocytes, a T-dependent antigen, persisted longer than those to DNP-Ficoll, a T-independent antigen. Plastic-adherent cells from the spleens of Toxoplasma-infected and X-irradiated (400 rads) mice had strong suppressor activity in primary anti-sheep erythrocyte antibody responses of normal mouse spleen cells in vitro. These data suggest that the activation of irradiation-resistant and plastic-adherent suppressor cells causes the suppression of both T and B cells in Toxoplasma-infected mice.