NEONATAL TOLERANCE REVISITED BY MATHEMATICAL-MODELING

The classical view of a neonatal tolerance window has recently been ch allenged by several studies showing that neonates can evoke normal imm une responses. For example, neonatal immunity against the male antigen H-Y can be induced in female recipients by inoculation of male donor spleen cells enriched for professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs) . In the same set-up, adult female recipients become tolerant by givin g large doses of spleen cells. Using a probabilistic model, we here sh ow how the number of T cells and endogenous APCs in the recipient, and the dose and quality of donor APCs can explain all observed phenomena . We thus reconcile the classical neonatal tolerance window with the r ecent data on neonatal immunity and adult tolerance.