Strain differences in the response of normal murine spleen cells to interleukin-2 (IL-2)

Susceptibility of normal spleen cells from various murine strains to IL-2 was assessed. The strains could be classified as highly susceptible (C57BL/6Kh, B6.PL(74NS), AKR.B6, and AKR.M) and moderately susceptible (C3H.B10 and C3H.A). These differences were demonstrable when cells were grown in the presence of relatively high concentrations of crude or highly purified IL-2 preparations, but were undetectable in low concentrations. The susceptibility appears to be genetically determined by multiple dominant or codominant genes that most likely control quantitative and/or qualitative differences in the composition of T-cell population residing in the normal spleen. From a practical point of view, the results suggest a need for testing experimental mice for their susceptibility to IL-2 prior to designing specific experiments.