Scripps VIVO scripps research logo

  • Index
  • Log in
  • Home
  • People
  • Organizations
  • Research
  • Events
Search form

The effect of thymectomy on lupus-prone mice

Academic Article
uri icon
  • Overview
  • Identity
  • Additional Document Info
  • View All
scroll to property group menus

Overview

authors

  • Hang, L. M.
  • Theofilopoulos, Argyrios
  • Balderas, R. S.
  • Francis, S. J.
  • Dixon, F. J.

publication date

  • 1984

journal

  • Journal of Immunology  Journal

abstract

  • The effect of neonatal thymectomy on the induction and/or modification of murine SLE disease was examined in several representative groups of mice with early-life SLE (MRL/Mp-lpr/lpr females, BXSB males, (NZB X W)F1 females, (NZW X BXSB)F1 males and females), late-life SLE (MRL/Mp-+/+ and BXSB females), and normal strains (BALB/c and C57BL/6 females). Our results indicated that thymectomy prevented disease only in the MRL/Mp-lpr/lpr SLE mice, and that this effect diminished as thymectomy was delayed beyond 3 wk post-natally. In the other SLE mice studied, neonatal thymectomy did not modify disease symptoms to any significant degree. Moreover, depletion of mature T cells from donor BXSB male bone marrow did not affect the expression of early-life SLE in thymectomized BXSB female recipients. Neonatal thymectomy did not induce SLE in normal mice. Of note, neonatal thymectomy did not completely deplete the Thy-1.2+ cell population, i.e., 10 to 15% remained in the spleens of the thymectomized mice. This incomplete T cell depletion, together with the previously demonstrated dependence on and hyperresponsiveness of BXSB and (NZB X W)F1 B cells to T helper cell-derived accessory signals, cast doubts on earlier conclusions that B cells from some SLE mice can autonomously proliferate and differentiate to autoantibody-secreting cells. It seems more appropriate to conclude that B cells from the various SLE mice vary in their degree of response to, and production of, T cell-derived helper signals, and thus in their expression of B cell hyperactivity and disease.

subject areas

  • Aging
  • Animals
  • Antigens, Surface
  • Antigens, Thy-1
  • Female
  • Glomerulonephritis
  • Immunization, Passive
  • Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Mutant Strains
  • Phenotype
  • Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell
  • Spleen
  • T-Lymphocytes
  • Thymectomy
scroll to property group menus

Identity

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0022-1767

PubMed ID

  • 6142069
scroll to property group menus

Additional Document Info

start page

  • 1809

end page

  • 1813

volume

  • 132

issue

  • 4

©2021 The Scripps Research Institute | Terms of Use | Powered by VIVO

  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Support