Kinetics of clonal deletion varies with tolerizing antigen

In postnatal AKR/J mice (I-Ek, Mls-1a) potentially autoreactive T-cells bearing V beta 11+ or V beta 6+ TcR are present until day 4, rapidly decreasing thereafter. Clonal deletion of V beta 11+ and V beta 6+ T-cells shows equivalent kinetics and is complete after day 7 to 8. Analysis of transgenic mice expressing a TcR with double specificity for LCMV/H-2Db and for Mls-1a revealed that in mice congenically infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) T-cells bearing the transgenic TcR were already deleted at birth, whereas in uninfected TcR-transgenic Mls-1a mice deletion was delayed. These findings document that the capacity of the thymus to induce tolerance by clonal deletion is already established at birth and that the kinetics of clonal deletion varies with tolerizing antigen.