Anti-idiotypic T cells suppress rejection of renal allografts in rats.

Kidney allografts between inbred rats differing at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are normally rejected, usually within 10 to 12 days. In many strain combinations, however, permanent graft acceptance can be induced by either immunological enhancement or a short course of immunosuppressive chemotherapy. In both cases, prolonged graft survival is accompanied by the appearance in the spleen of a population of suppressor cells. When transferred to a syngeneic host, these cells abrogate or strikingly diminish the rejection response elicited by a renal allograft of the same genotype as the original kidney donor. We have now examined the properties of these suppressor cells and have detected a subpopulation that proliferates in vitro when stimulated by irradiated syngeneic T blasts reactive to MHC alloantigens of the kidney donor strain. Comparable proliferation, however, is not induced either by syngeneic blasts reactive to a third strain or by polyclonal syngeneic blasts. These results support the hypothesis that this subpopulation is anti-idiotypic, with specificity for the idiotypes carried by syngeneic T cells stimulated by the kidney allograft. Such anti-idiotypic cells could function as suppressors.