Adoptive transfer of the generalized lymphoproliferative disease (gld) syndrome in nude beige mice

C57BL/6 nude beige mice (B6 nubg) were used as recipients for the transfer of haematopoietic cells from either B6 wild as control mice, or systemic lupus erythematous B6 mice homozygous for the recessive generalized lymphadenopathy disease (gld) locus. Both gld and wild cell grafts prolonged survival of the short-living B6 nubg recipients and restored some T-cell functions, as monitored by the presence of T-dependent Ig isotypes in the serum and responsiveness of spleen cells to a T-cell mitogen. Moreover, the [gld----nubg] chimeras but not the [wild----nubg] chimeras showed several similarities with gld control mice, particularly, a spleen and lymph node hyperplasia, elevated anti-single-stranded DNA antibody titres and a hyperglobulinaemia. This hyperglobulinaemia was however qualitatively different from the gld-type hyperglobulinaemia with an important contribution of the IgG1 isotype; the lymph node hyperplasia was also less marked than in B6 gld mice.