Immunosuppressive and graft-rejecting anti--bodies in heterologous anti-lymphocytic serum

Skin allografts survived longer on ALS-treated, complement-deficient (C5 negative) recipients than on ALS-treated, complement-competent (C5 positive) recipients. Administration of C5-positive serum to C5-negative, ALS-treated recipients resulted in reduced graft survival. A percentage of grafts from ALS-treated, C5-positive donors was rejected when transferred to untreated syngeneic recipients; this was not observed when C5-negative, syngeneic animals served as ALS-treated donors and untreated recipients. It was concluded that ALS has graft-rejecting properties which are promoted by late acting complement components. Unlike ALS-mediated graft rejection, ALS-mediated immunosuppression appeared to be independent of the late acting complement components. The effect of ALS on the humoral response to sheep erythrocytes was examined in complement-deficient and complement-competent mice. Immune-suppression was determined by ALS treatment of C5-competent and C5-deficient mice and also by transfer of in vitro ALS-treated spleen cells from C5-negative and C5-positive donors to cyclophosphamide-treated recipients. The ability of ALS to depress the humoral response to sheep cells and to decrease immunological competence of spleen cells was the same in the presence as in the absence of C5.