Specific elimination of the T lineage cells: Effect of in vitro treatment with anti-Thy 1 serum without complement on the adoptive cell transfer system

Thymocytes from C57BL/6(B6) mice treated with anti-Thy 1 antiserum without complement in vitro were transferred to lethally irradiated AKR mice. Five days following transfer, the proportion of Thy 1.2(+) cells recovered from the recipient spleen was significantly lower (7%) than that from the control mice which had received untreated cells (64%). The B6 spleen cells were treated in the same manner and transferred with SRBC (T-dependent antigen) or DNP-Ficoll (T-independent antigen) to irradiated syngeneic recipients. The recipients developed a response to SRBC which was significantly lower than that observed in control mice, but showed the same number of plaque-forming cell (PFC) against TNP-SRBC as the control group of mice which had received untreated B6 spleen cells. These results clearly show that in vitro pretreatment of lymphocytes with anti-Thy 1 serum without complement specifically resulted in elimination or inactivation of the T lineage cells in the host environment. The mechanisms of the elimination are discussed in this study.