Environmental modulation of the autonomy of cytotoxic T lymphocytes.

The extent to which one compartment of the immune system depends on another for efficient function is important to establish to fully comprehend disease phenotypes arising from selective immunodeficiency. Just how much the major histocompatibility complex class I-restricted cytotoxic T cell responses depend on class II-restricted T cell help has been controversial. Using the influenza A virus system, we show that mice unable to make class II-restricted T cell responses due to an engineered defect in class II molecule expression are able to mount virtually normal cytotoxic responses when bred under specific-pathogen-free conditions. However, when exposed to the more diverse environmental challenges of a conventional breeding facility, a situation that more closely parallels immunodeficient states in man, they show impaired cytotoxic responses.