T cell immunity or tolerance as a consequence of self antigen presentation

✍ Scribed by Rong Hwa Lin; Brigitta Stockinger

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 691 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0014-2980
• DOI: 10.1002/eji.1830190117

✦ Synopsis

In this study we investigated the basis for immunity or tolerance to a mouse serum protein, the fifth component of complement (C5). In CS-deficient mice this protein is absent from serum and therefore they are not tolerized. Immunization of CS-deficient mice with C5-sufficient serum generates CD4' T cells, which recognize C5 presented in the context of class 11. No C5-specific responses were observed in T cells from C5sufficient mice. We show that this self protein is processed and presented with class I1 by cells from C5-sufficient tolerant mice and can be recognized by CS-specific T cell clones and hybrids in the absence of exogenously added antigen. The stimulation of C5-specific T cells by CS-sufficient antigen-presenting cells is not a consequence of C5 secretion and subsequent processing in vifro but rather employs C5 peptideklass I1 complexes generated in viva We conclude that this self antigen is presented in normal mice in a form recognizable by T cells to induce and maintain immunological tolerance.