Further evidence against random polyclonal antibody formation in mice with lupus-like graft-vs-host disease

The pathologic symptoms in F1 mice with chronic graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) (GVH F1) strongly resemble those of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Mice with SLE-like GVHD do not produce antibodies to a number of non-self and self antigens. This finding is inconsistent with the widely accepted view that the (auto)-antibody formation in SLE is polyclonal in the sense that B cells are triggered at random, i.e., irrespective of their specificity. In the present study, therefore, we performed a systematic study of the kinetics of total IgM- and IgG-secreting splenic B cells and tested their specificities. The total IgM-secreting B cell population was increased only in the first week after the initiation of SLE-like GVHD; it seemed to reflect a random, but self-limited, polyclonal B cell stimulation. In contrast, the total number of IgG-secreting cells in the GVH F1 mice was increased to a much higher extent than that of the IgM-secreting cells and remained increased. At no time during GVHD was there an increase in the number of plaque-forming cells (PFC) spontaneously secreting IgG antibodies to non-self antigens. The GVH reaction (GVHR) did, however, lead to the appearance of PFC that secreted IgG antibodies to DNA. Similarly, the GVH F1 mice showed high serum titers of antibodies to self antigens characteristic of SLE and to endogenous viruses, but during the entire observation period they failed to develop serum antibodies to non-self antigens and insulin. Hence, the enhanced production of Ig, especially that of IgG, that occurs in SLE-like GVHD is not a random process, because it requires the presence of antigen, or signal 1. The data support our hypothesis that only certain kinds of self antigen, such as DNA and cell membrane epitopes, can cross-link the Ig receptors on the corresponding B cells and thus provide an adequate signal 1. Given the increase in help, or signal 2, in chronic GVHD, only the B cell clones that simultaneously receive an adequate signal 1 seem to be driven into clonal proliferation and IgG secretion.