H. Wada et al., T-CELL FUNCTIONS IN GRANULOCYTE MACROPHAGE COLONY-STIMULATING FACTOR DEFICIENT MICE/, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United Statesof America, 94(23), 1997, pp. 12557-12561
Immunological functions were analyzed in mice lacking granulocyte/macr
ophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), The response of splenic T c
ells to alloantigens, anti-mouse CD3 mAb, interleukin 2 (IL-2), or con
canavalin A was comparable in GM-CSF +/+ and GM-CSF -/-mice, To invest
igate the responses of CD8(+) and CD4(+) T cells against exogenous ant
igens, mice were immunized with ovalbumin peptide or with keyhole limp
et hemocyanin (KLH), Cytotoxic CD8(+) T cells with specificity for ova
lbumin peptide could not be induced in GM-CSF -/-mice, After immunizat
ion with KLH, there was a delay in IgG generation, particularly IgG2a,
in GM-CSF -/-mice, Purified CD4(+) T cells from GM-CSF -/-mice immuni
zed with KLH showed impaired proliferative responses and produced low
amounts of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and IL-4 when KLH-pulsed B cel
ls or spleen cells were used as antigen presenting cells (APC),When en
riched dendritic cells (DC) were used as APC, CD4(+) T cells from GM-C
SF -/-mice proliferated as well as those from GM-CSF +/+ mice and prod
uced high amounts of IFN-gamma and IL-4. To analyze the rescue effect
of DC on CD4(+) T cells, supernatants from (i) CD4(+) T cells cultured
with KLH-pulsed DC or (ii) DC cultured with recombinant GM-CSF were t
ransferred to cultures of CD4(+) T cells and KLH-pulsed spleen cells f
rom GM-CSF -/-mice, Supernatants from both DC sources contained a fact
or or factors that restored proliferative responses and IFN-gamma prod
uction of CD4(+) T cells from GM-CSF -/-mice.