Chemically modified antigen-presenting cells induce T lymphocyte allospecific hyporesponsiveness

We have investigated the interaction between murine T lymphocytes and allogeneic APC in an in vitro proliferative mixed leukocyte reaction. Our results demonstrate that freshly isolated potentially alloreactive murine splenic T lymphocytes, in primary culture, can be induced to develop a state of allospecific proliferative hyporesponsiveness in vitro by exposure to 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide-modified allogeneic APC, a method similar to that previously used to induce nonresponsiveness in murine Ag-specific self-MHC-restricted T lymphocyte clones. This hyporesponsiveness was: specific for the allohaplotype of inducing APC, maintained for 96 h in vitro, not due to cellular inhibitory mechanisms, and associated with reduced ability to secrete IL-2 but not IL-3. Induction of this hyporesponsiveness was not due to altered expression of class II MHC gene products on the APC but was associated with markedly reduced T lymphocyte-APC adhesive interactions despite the lack of a detectable immunophenotypic change in lymphocyte function-associated Ag 1 (LFA-1) and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) expression on the modified APC. Therefore, we propose that TCR occupancy in the absence of normal T lymphocyte-APC adhesive clustering may induce T lymphocyte tolerance.