Adoptive Tolerance; Transfer of the Tolerant State

Abstract

Lymphoid cells from tolerant mice can be successfully transferred to a new environment without affecting their tolerant behavior. In such transfer, both the original host and donor cells are transferred, with the establishment of a chimeric state in the irradiated recipients. In addition to being mutually tolerant, the host and donor cells from the tolerant animal tolerate each other's type of skin grafts. This tolerance is not due to a general impairment of the immune capacity but to a specific inhibition of the immunologic response. The results suggest that the graft-versushost tolerance in the newborn C₃H mouse injected with adult CBA strain spleen cells is not due to immunologic paralysis.