Immunogenetic Analysis of H-2 Mutations. VII. Cells Responding to H-2 Kk Gene Products Give Rise to an Allogeneic Supernatant

Abstract

The mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) in the mouse is a response by thymus-derived (T) cells against genetically determined alloantigens (1). Two genetic regions have been shown to control the elicitation of strong MLR responses: the I region of the H-2 complex and the Mls region (2–4). Genes in these regions presumably control the expression of cell surface antigens that are recognized by a large number of responding T cells (5). In addition to the cell proliferation that results from the coculture of cells differing at these loci, a factor, termed allogeneic supernatant (AS), ² is also generated very early during the MLR in the culture supernatants. The AS enhances the response of normal spleen cells to T-dependent antigens (6–8), and has the ability to substitute for T cells in the splenic B cell humoral response to the same class of antigens.