Parallel costimulatory pathways promote myelin basic protein-stimulated proliferation of encephalitogenic rat T cells

Activation pathways responsible for myelin basic protein (MBP)-stimulated proliferation of encephalitogenic T cells were studied by derivation of new monoclonal antibodies against rat T cell surface proteins. These monoclonal antibodies were derived by immunization of Balb/c mice with THYB-2 T cell hybrids or with the GP2.E5 line of encephalitogenic T-helper cells. The LRTC1 mAb inhibited MBP-stimulated IL-2 production by THYB-2 hybrids but not by THYB-1 hybrids and did not inhibit the alternative response of MBP-induced growth inhibition by either hybrid subset. Although LRTC1 labeled virtually all rat leukocytes, it selectively inhibited proliferative responses to T cell mitogens but not to B cell mitogens. LRTC1 inhibited MBP-stimulated IL-2 production by GP2.E5 T cells but did not effectively block MBP-stimulated proliferation. Rather, LRTC1 acted in synergy with a second mAb (LRTC2) to effectively inhibit MBP-stimulated proliferation by GP2.E5 T cells. The observation that LRTC1 did not exhibit synergy with a third biologically active mAb (LRTC3) supported the hypothesis that LRTC1 and LRTC2 represented a specific combination of synergistic mAb. In contrast to the inhibitory activity on GP2.E5 T cells, LRTC1 and LRTC2 synergistically stimulated antigen-independent IL-2 production by the THYB-1 hybrid LSS-A1. These results support the hypothesis that GP2.E5 T cells respond to parallel costimulatory pathways that are respectively inhibited by LRTC1 and LRTC2 mAb. Furthermore, these synergistic mAb exhibited inhibitory or stimulatory activities that may be diagnostic of distinct T-helper cell subsets. These novel mAb may thereby facilitate studies of costimulatory pathways and T-helper cell subsets in the pathogenesis of autoimmune disease.