skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: In vivo evidence for CD4+ and CD8+ suppressor T cells in vaccination-induced suppression of murine experimental autoimmune thyroiditis

Journal Article · · Clinical Immunology and Immunopathology; (United States)
;  [1]
  1. Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan (USA)

In several experimental autoimmune diseases, including experimental autoimmune thyroiditis (EAT), vaccination with attenuated autoantigen-specific T cells has provided protection against subsequent induction of disease. However, the mechanism(s) of vaccination-induced suppression remains to be clarified. Since the authors have previously shown that suppression generated by pretreatment with mouse thyroglobulin (MTg) or thyroid-stimulating hormone in EAT is mediated by CD4+, not CD8+, suppressor T cells, they examined the role of T cell subsets in vaccination-induced suppression of EAT. Mice were vaccinated with irradiated, MTg-primed, and MTg-activated spleen cells and then challenged. Pretreatment with these cells suppressed EAT induced by immunization with MTg and adjuvant, but not by adoptive transfer of thyroiditogenic cells, suggesting a mechanism of afferent suppression. The activation of suppressor mechanisms did not require CD8+ cells, since mice depleted of CD8+ cells before vaccination showed reduced EAT comparable to control vaccinated mice. Furthermore, depletion of either the CD4+ or the CD8+ subset after vaccination did not significantly abrogate suppression. However, suppression was eliminated by the depletion of both CD4+ and CD8+ cells in vaccinated mice. These results provide evidence for the cooperative effects of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in vaccination-induced suppression of EAT.

OSTI ID:
5227135
Journal Information:
Clinical Immunology and Immunopathology; (United States), Vol. 60:3; ISSN 0090-1229
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English