Spleen cells from MRL-lpr and B6-lpr mice have a marked defect in the ability to produce interleukin 2 (IL-2) in response to concanavalin A stimulation. This defect precedes the onset of clinical illness, increases with age, and eventually becomes virtually absolute. It is not due to cellular suppression of IL-2 production, nor does it reflect the presence of a soluble inhibitor of IL-2 activity. Failure to restore IL-2 production with macrophage-replacing factors, such as interleukin 1 and phorbol myristic acetate, suggests that IL-2 deficiency reflects a primary T cell defect rather than a macrophage defect. MRL-lpr and B6-lpr spleen cells also have an age-dependent reduction in IL-2 response that apparently results from a deficiency of cell surface receptors for IL-2. Congenic MRL-+/+ and B6-+/+ mice, which lack the lpr gene responsible for accelerated autoimmunity and lymphoproliferation, have normal IL-2 activity. These findings suggest that a defect in IL-2 activity may contribute to impaired immunoregulation in mice bearing the lpr gene. The absence of such a defect in MRL-+/+ and B6-+/+ mice further suggests that a single autosomal recessive gene is responsible for IL-2 deficiency.
Article|
November 01 1981
Deficient interleukin 2 activity in MRL/Mp and C57BL/6J mice bearing the lpr gene.
D Wofsy
E D Murphy
J B Roths
M J Dauphinée
S B Kipper
N Talal
Online ISSN: 1540-9538
Print ISSN: 0022-1007
J Exp Med (1981) 154 (5): 1671–1680.
Citation
D Wofsy, E D Murphy, J B Roths, M J Dauphinée, S B Kipper, N Talal; Deficient interleukin 2 activity in MRL/Mp and C57BL/6J mice bearing the lpr gene.. J Exp Med 1 November 1981; 154 (5): 1671–1680. doi: https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.154.5.1671
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