Suppression of lymphoproliferation and interleukin-1 production by enterocyte-derived factors

Abstract

Recent studies demonstrated that enterocytes expressing surface Class II MHC antigens were capable of antigen presentation (1,2). In rodents, antigen-specific proliferation was observed only after T cells were separated from enterocytes following activation and re-cultured in the absence of further antigen stimulation (2,3). Furthermore, the inability to induce T cell proliferation was not reversible by the addition of recombinant IL-1 or IL-2 (3). This study shows that in primary culture the failure of enterocytes to stimulate antigen-specific proliferation of resting T cells was due to suppressive factors secreted by enterocytes.