Generation of suppressor T cells during the primary response of murine spleen cells in diffusion chambers

A vigorous secondary response to DNP is elicited by dinitrophenylated keyhole limpet hemocyanin (DNP-KLH) in spleen cells from primed mice cultured in Millipore diffusion chambers. However, the same antigen under the same conditions does not elicit a primary response in normal spleen cells. In contract, foreign erythrocytes elicit a primary response and function as an effective carrier for the primary response to a hapten. We found that the failure of haptenated protein to induce a primary response in diffusion chambers can be attributed to the generation of suppressor T cells by the protein. Cultures of T depleted normal spleen cells, supplemented with carrier-specific helper T cells, developed a DNP-specific primary response upon stimulation with DNP-KLH.