Persistence of allospecific helper T cells is required for maintaining autoantibody formation in lupus-like graft-versus-host disease.

Induction of a graft-versus-host (GVH) reaction (GVHR) in non-irradiated (C57BL/10ScSn x DBA/2)F1 mice (BDF1) with DBA/2 lymphoid cells leads to chronic GVH disease (GVHD). One of the pathological alterations of this type of GVHD is hyperplasia of host B cells with production of lupus-like autoantibodies. This hyperstimulation of host B cells has previously been demonstrated to be induced by alloreactive donor T helper cells that were also proposed to maintain it. We provide three pieces of experimental evidence in support of this concept. First, treatment of mice with chronic GVHD by injection of monoclonal anti-Thy-1.2 antibodies, performed at week 6 after the injection of C57BL/6 lymphoid cells into (C57BL/6 x C57BL.bm12)F1 mice led to a significant decrease in the titre of anti-nuclear antibodies. Second, CD4+ donor T cells persisted in BDF1 mice with GVHD (GVHF1) for at least 10 weeks after the induction of GVHR; these T cells showed alloreactive helper activity against H-2b MHC determinants of the opposite parent in vitro. Third, T cells of GVHF1 mice, obtained 2 months after the induction of GVHR and transferred into normal secondary recipients, induced signs of chronic GVHD in DBF1 but not in DBA/2 mice. The combined results show that persisting donor T helper cells in GVHF1 mice retain their alloreactivity towards H-2 class II antigens for a long time after the induction of GVHR and they strongly suggest that these T cells are also the driving force behind the production of lupus-like autoantibodies at the late stage of chronic GVHD.