Response of T Cells to Synthetic Peptide Antigens: Specific Unresponsiveness Analogous to Tolerance

Abstract

Regulated immune responses require that the magnitude of responses be under strict control. They also necessitate an accurate discrimination of self from non self antigens. The regulatory mechanisms involved in these processes are undoubtedly complex, but certain components have been identified, namely suppressor cells, and immunological tolerance (1,2). The latter process, a state of antigen induced, antigen specific unresponsiveness has been relatively ignored in recent years, due partly to the interest in the analysis of suppressor T cells, and also to the lack of suitable models for the analysis of T cell tolerance (unlike B cell tolerance) in vitro. It had even been proposed that tolerance was due to the action of suppressor T cells. The availability of homogeneous populations of cloned T cells (3) provided us with a opportunity to determine whether antigen could directly inhibit T cell function, in the absence of suppressor cells, and if so, to investigate its mechansism.