Transfer of spleen cells from young to aging NZB × NZW F1 hybrid mice. Effect on mortality, antinuclear antibody, and renal disease

Abstract

Multiple injections of spleen cells from young NZB × NZW F1 hybrid mice with a mean age of 9 weeks were administered to syngeneic recipients at 10‐day intervals beginning at 3 months of age. The recipient mice had a delayed appearance of antinuclear antibody, decreased cumulative incidence of antinuclear antibody positivity up to 7.3 months of age, lower cumulative mortality up to 8 months of age, and a lesser degree of glomerular sclerosis at 8 months of age. By 9 months of age no significant differences in these parameters remained. Transferred cells were most effective during the 4‐ to 6‐week period immediately following initiation of injections. The beneficial effects appeared to reflect an early but temporary suppression of the autoimmune process by the transferred lymphoid cells.