Failure of C3H mice to develop lung granuloma after intravenous injection of BCG cell wall vaccine. Demonstration of a defect in lymphoid cells.

C57Bl/6 (B6) mice produced highly developed granulomata in the lung 3 or 4 weeks after intravenous injection with oil-associated BCG cell walls (CW), but C3H/He (C3H) mice did not. The potential to develop granulomata is genetically controlled (Yamamoto & Kakinuma, 1978). It is probable that the genes control only T-cell mediated granuloma and not non-specific inflammation prior to onset of immunopathological response. The retention of an FITC-labelled BCG CW preparation in the lungs of B6 and C3H mice did not differ until 10 days after injection, although 24 hr uptake of 125 I-labelled BCG CW in B6 lung was twice as much as that in C3H lung. Furthermore, C3H mice did not show a secondary type granuloma response in the lungs after subsequent injections of BCG CW. In experiments using radiation chimaeras, B6 mice reconstituted with C3H bone marrow cells were unable to produce a granulomatous response to BCG CW. In contrast, C3H mice reconstituted with B6 bone marrow cells showed a good granulomatous response. These results suggest that the C3H mice possessed a deficiency within their lympho-haematopoietic cells.