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Gene dosage--limiting role of Aire in thymic expression, clonal deletion, and organ-specific autoimmunity.

Inactivation of the autoimmune regulator (Aire) gene causes a rare recessive disorder, autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome 1 (APS1), but it is not known if Aire-dependent tolerance mechanisms are susceptible to the quantitative genetic changes thought to underlie more common autoimmune diseases. In mice with a targeted mutation, complete loss of Aire abolished expression of an insulin promoter transgene in thymic epithelium, but had no effect in pancreatic islets or the testes. Loss of one copy of Aire diminished thymic expression of the endogenous insulin gene and the transgene, resulting in a 300% increase in islet-reactive CD4 T cells escaping thymic deletion in T cell receptor transgenic mice, and dramatically increased progression to diabetes. Thymic deletion induced by antigen under control of the thyroglobulin promoter was abolished in Aire homozygotes and less efficient in heterozygotes, providing an explanation for thyroid autoimmunity in APS1. In contrast, Aire deficiency had no effect on thymic deletion to antigen controlled by a systemic H-2K promoter. The sensitivity of Aire-dependent thymic deletion to small reductions in function makes this pathway a prime candidate for more subtle autoimmune quantitative trait loci, and suggests that methods to increase Aire activity would be a potent strategy to lower the incidence of organ-specific autoimmunity.

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Establishment of fully xenogeneic (mouse-->rat) bone marrow chimeras: evidence for normal development and clonal deletion of mouse T cells.

BACKGROUND: Xenotransplantation is a potential solution to the critical shortage of transplantable organs. However, conventional immunosuppressive agents do not control the vigorous cellular and humoral rejection across species disparities. The induction of donor specific tolerance via bone marrow chimerism may be a method to avoid xenograft rejection. In xenogeneic chimeras, T cell repertoire selection plays an important role in the induction of tolerance. Until now a model of mouse-->rat multilineage chimerism has not been reported. This study reports the establishment of fully xenogeneic mouse-->rat multilineage chimeras and evaluates the role of T cell development and repertoire selection in tolerance induction in a xenogeneic environment. METHODS: Recipient rats were irradiated at a dose of total body irradiation ranging between 800-1100 cGy and injected with 120-300x10(6) donor mouse bone marrow cells. Chimeras were typed for engraftment at 4 weeks and then monthly thereafter. T cell repertoire was evaluated in chimeras using two-color flow cytometry and monoclonal antibodies directed against the variable portion of the beta chain of the T cell receptor. RESULTS: Fully xenogeneic multilineage bone marrow chimerism was produced in a mouse-->rat model by using ablative radiation and a high dose of donor cells. Mouse T cells develop in a phenotypically normal fashion in chimeric rats and the host rat is capable of deleting T cells that are reactive to the donor mouse strain. CONCLUSION: Long-term multilineage bone marrow chimerism can be produced in a mouse-->rat bone marrow transplant model. Mouse T cells develop in a phenotypically normal fashion and negative selection of specific T cell receptor-Vbeta occurs in a xenogeneic environment in a predictable fashion paralleling that for syngeneic or allogeneic transplantation.

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Selective silencing of full-length CD80 but not IgV-CD80 leads to impaired clonal deletion of self-reactive T cells and altered regulation of immune responses.

Co-stimulation provided by the B7 family of proteins underpins the development of protective immunity. There are three identified members of this family: CD80, its splice variant IgV-CD80 and CD86. It has hitherto been difficult to analyze the expression and function of IgV-CD80 since there are no appropriate reagents capable of distinguishing it from CD80. We have generated mice, by gene targeting, the lack CD80 whilst maintaining expression of IgV-CD80. Mutant animals did not delete T cells bearing mammary tumor virus-reactive TCR as efficiently as wild-type animals. We also demonstrate the importance of IgV-CD80 in the responses of recently activated cells and reveal a role for CD80 in sustaining T cell responses. CD86, whilst critical to primary T cell activation, made only a minor contribution to re-activation of normal cells.

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Peripheral clonal deletion of antiviral memory CD8+ T cells.

Antiviral cytotoxic memory CD8+ T cells adoptively transferred to mice which are persistently infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus WE or DOCILE initially proliferated extensively; they either caused the death of the recipient or, alternatively, disappeared within a few days. Apparently, the complete and coordinated induction and stimulation by widely distributed viral antigen caused these memory T cells to die before virus had been eliminated from the host. Thus memory T cells are as susceptible to peripheral exhaustion/deletion as unprimed T cells. These results indicate possible limitations of exclusively CD8+ T cell-mediated adoptive immunotherapy against viral infections or tumors.

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Escape of thymocytes and mature T cells from clonal deletion due to limiting tolerogen expression levels.

Expression of self antigen on lymphohemopoietic cells and in the thymus has been shown to cause tolerance by negative selection. To investigate the role of self antigen expression levels on the induction of tolerance, we generated transgenic mice expressing the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) glycoprotein (GP) driven by the H-2Kb promoter. Two mouse lines differing in transgene expression levels were obtained and evaluated for the induction of tolerance to LCMV-GP. LCMV-GP high (GPhi) expressing animals thymically deleted self-reactive thymocytes. Low expressors (GPlo) partially deleted self-reactive mature T cells in the periphery in the absence of any obvious signs of negative selection in the thymus. Functionally, the LCMV-GP-specific cytotoxic T cell (CTL) response was absent in GPhi mice, whereas GPlo mice produced diminished LCMV-GP-specific CTL responses. Therefore limiting levels of expression of self antigen influence efficiency of negative selection, enabling potentially self-reactive T cells to escape from tolerance induction.

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Quantitative impact of thymic clonal deletion on the T cell repertoire.

Interactions between major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules expressed on stromal cells and antigen-specific receptors on T cells shape the repertoire of mature T lymphocytes emerging from the thymus. Some thymocytes with appropriate receptors are stimulated to undergo differentiation to the fully mature state (positive selection), whereas others with strongly autoreactive receptors are triggered to undergo programmed cell death before completing this differentiation process (negative selection). The quantitative impact of negative selection on the potentially available repertoire is currently unknown. To address this issue, we have constructed radiation bone marrow chimeras in which MHC molecules are present on radioresistant thymic epithelial cells (to allow positive selection) but absent from radiosensitive hematopoietic elements responsible for negative selection. In such chimeras, the number of mature thymocytes was increased by twofold as compared with appropriate control chimeras This increase in steady-state numbers of mature thymocytes was not related to proliferation, increased retention, or recirculation and was accompanied by a similar two- to threefold increase in the de novo rate of generation of mature cells. Taken together, our data indicate that half to two-thirds of the thymocytes able to undergo positive selection die before full maturation due to negative selection.

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Clonal deletion of autospecific B lymphocytes.

Using mice transgenic for functional, rearranged immunoglobulin heavy and light chain genes, it can be demonstrated that B lymphocytes reactive with cell surface-bound class I MHC antigen can be controlled by clonal elimination. Even low-affinity cell-bound ligands can induce deletion. Deletion can occur in the pre-B to B cell transitional stage or after the B cells exist the bone marrow, depending on where the cells first encounter autoantigen. IgD appears to play no role in protecting cells from deletion. It is argued that defects in B-cell tolerance alone may be sufficient to lead to systemic autoimmunity.

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Thymic epithelial cell lines that mediate positive selection can also induce thymocyte clonal deletion.

Negative selection of potentially autoreactive thymocytes occurs mainly in the thymus and is thought to be induced primarily by interaction with bone marrow-derived cells. However, some studies have also reported a role for radioresistant thymic cells, which are probably epithelial in origin, in the deletion of thymocytes reacting to endogenous superantigens. We have previously demonstrated that thymic epithelial cell lines could induce thymocyte-positive selection in vivo. In this study, we assessed the potential of these cells to delete thymocytes reacting to the staphylococcal enterotoxin A or B superantigens in vitro. In the presence of staphylococcal enterotoxin A or B we found that all thymic epithelial cell lines used in this study were capable of activating T cell hybrids or deleting CD4+CD8+ thymocytes expressing an appropriate TCR. The extent of superantigen-mediated thymocyte deletion mediated by thymic epithelial cell lines was comparable to that mediated by a thymic macrophage cell line. Similar results were obtained with three phenotypically distinct thymic cell lines, suggesting that the ability to induce thymocyte deletion might be a general feature of various subsets of thymic epithelium. The observations provided in this study, combined with our previous demonstration that the same thymic epithelial cell lines can participate in positive selection, suggest that a given stromal cell population might be capable of taking part both in positive and negative selection of thymocytes.

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Immunological tolerance to the thymus-independent antigen dextran can be abrogated by thymus-dependent dextran conjugates: evidence against clonal deletion as the mechanism of tolerance induction.

Tolerance to the alpha1--6 epitope of native dextran B512 was found to be very stable and could not be broken by the injection of dextran conjugated to several substances, such as protein A, keyhole limpet haemocyanin, edistin, concanvalin A or Staphylococcus bacteria, strain Cowan. However, when tolerant mice were injected with dextranase, all the above conjugates induced a strong anti-alpha1--6 immune response. In contrast, native dextran itself never induced a response in tolerant, dextranase-treated mice. It was concluded that tolerance only affects the specific B-cell subpopulation that can respond to the polyclonal B-cell-activating (PBA) property of dextran, whereas other specific B cells having PBA receptors for, e.g., signals delivered by collaborating T cells remain in a resting state. These B cells can respond in a specific immune response against the tolerogen after removal of the antigen, which blocks the Ig receptors and therefore prevents them from passively focusing the antigen. Thus, immunological tolerance is not caused by clonal elimination of the antigen-specific clone, but only affects a small subfraction of cells with Ig receptors against the tolerogen.

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Thymic epithelium induces neither clonal deletion nor anergy to Mls 1a antigens.

Grafting of thymic anlagen from day-10 DBA/2 (H-2d; Mls-1a) embryos to newborn athymic BALB/c (H-2d; Mls-1b) mice leads to reconstitution of T cell populations in the recipients. Analysis of adult chimeras shows that their V beta T cell receptor (TcR) repertoires, particularly V beta 6 and V beta 8.1, do not significantly differ in most animals (10 out of 13) from those scored in control chimeras that received syngeneic thymic anlagen. In all cases analyzed, such Mls-1a-reactive T cells could be stimulated at levels comparable to control responses, both in vitro and in vivo. The few cases in which Mls-1a reactive V beta TcR were reduced seem to reflect the variability in TcR V beta repertoires found in this experimental system. In contrast, BALB/c mice, injected at birth with DBA/2 spleen cells show a marked, albeit variable, reduction in the frequencies of V beta 6- and V beta 8.1-bearing CD4+ T cells, and lower frequencies of Mls-1a-reactive T cells in limiting dilution analyses. It appears, however, that V beta 6- and V beta 8.1-bearing T cells remaining in these mice are functionally competent. We conclude that Mls-1 antigens are not expressed by thymic epithelium.

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Clonal deletion of some V beta+ T cells in peripheral lymphocytes from C57BL/6 mice infected with MHV3.

Mouse hepatitis virus type 3 infection is generally accompanied by a severe immune dysfunction involving thymic or splenic T cell subpopulations. We postulate that the peripheral lymphoid cell depletions were caused by a selective deletion of some V beta subsets of mature T cells, as observed with superantigens. We have examined the expression of V beta 6, V beta 8 and V beta 14 in T cell subpopulations from the spleen and lymph nodes of pathogenic L2-MHV3-infected C57BL/6 mice. Cytofluorometric study showed decreases in splenic V beta 8+, V beta 6+, and V beta 14+ T cell subpopulations at 72 hrs post-infection. Single positive CD4+ T cells were diminushed but not the CD8+ cells. In contrast, the various V beta splenic cell populations were not modified in mice infected with a non- pathogenic YAC-MHV3 variant. However, the V beta 8/CD4 ratio increased in splenic cells but decreased in lymphocytes from lymph nodes. The V beta 14/CD4 ratio decreased only in splenic cells while V beta 6/CD4 ratios were not modified. These results suggest that alterations in V beta cell populations may play a role in the L2-MHV3-induced immunodeficiency.

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Peripheral tolerance to allogeneic class II histocompatibility antigens expressed in transgenic mice: evidence against a clonal-deletion mechanism.

To examine the effects of aberrant expression of class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins on tolerance development, transgenic mice expressing the I-Ad genes under control of the pancreatic elastase promoter were produced. Such transgenic mice express I-Ad exclusively on exocrine pancreas, without expression in thymus or by lymphocytes. No spontaneous development of autoimmune reactivity toward exocrine pancreas was found in transgene-expressing mice of an H-2b background even though such mice could produce in vitro allogeneic responses against I-Ad. When T cells from nontransgenic H-2b mice as well as transgenic H-2b mice were activated in vitro by I-Ad allogeneic stimulator cells and transferred to transgenic mice, an intense, destructive lymphocytic infiltrate specific for exocrine pancreas developed. These findings suggest that aberrant class II MHC expression alone may not trigger autoimmune reactions. Rather, the unresponsiveness to allogenic class II MHC may result from the inability of exocrine pancreas to initiate primary responses by T cells.

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In vitro correlate for a clonal deletion mechanism of immune response gene-controlled nonresponsiveness.

We used T cell-antigen-presenting cell (APC) combinations from two pairs of recombinant mouse strains, B10.A(4R)-B10.A(2R) and B10.S(7R)-B10.S(9R) (abbreviated 4R, 2R, 7R, 9R, respectively), which differ from each other only in the nonexpression vs. expression of cell-surface E molecules, to study the mechanism of the Ir gene-controlled (E-restricted) response to the terpolymer poly(glu51lys34tyr15) (GLT). No response to GLT occurred when the APC were from E-nonexpressor strains 4R and 7R. When APC from E-expressor strains were used and alloreactivity against the incompatible E molecules was removed by BUdR + light treatment, 7R T cells responded to GLT presented by 9R APC, but 4R T cells failed to respond to GLT presented by 2R APC. However, 4R T cells mounted a proliferative response to GLT presented by fully allogeneic 5R or 9R APC. The latter response was completely abolished by the depletion of cells alloreactive against 2R and 5R or 2R and 9R. Since removal of alloreactivity against 5R plus 9R did not affect the response of 4R T cells to GLT presented by either 5R or 9R cells, we conclude that the 4R T cells generated in response to GLT cross-react with the additional incompatibility presented by 2R cells, that is, the Ek beta chain. In contrast, 7R T cells recognizing GLT presented by 9R APC do not cross-react with Ek beta. These results demonstrate that "blind spots" in the T cell repertoire produced by depletion of cells alloreactive against a single chain of a class II MHC molecule can render a strain nonresponsive to a synthetic polypeptide antigen, and that this nonresponsiveness corresponds to that attributed to the MHC-linked Ir genes.

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