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. 1967 Oct;94(4):896–901. doi: 10.1128/jb.94.4.896-901.1967

Influence of Cellular Factors on Immune Unresponsiveness Induced by Klebsiella pneumoniae Capsular Antigen

William G Wu a, Karen L Trice a,1
PMCID: PMC276751  PMID: 6051361

Abstract

The mechanisms by which immune unresponsiveness (immune paralysis) develops are still uncertain. The present work was based on the assumption that this condition may be due to failure of certain activities of the macrophages. Data from passive transfer of such cells are interpreted as supporting this hypothesis. Purified capsular polysaccharide from type 2 Klebsiella pneumoniae induced immunity when given to Swiss albino mice in 5-μg amounts and immune paralysis when given in 1,000-μg amounts. The unresponsive state lapsed to that of acquired immunity 3 months after induction. Passive transfer of cells from groups of K. pneumoniae immune, “paralyzed,” and control mice showed that peritoneal cells from “paralyzed” donors induced significant protection against challenge in both control and “paralyzed” recipients. In contrast, spleen cells from control, “paralyzed,” and immune animals failed to effect such transfer. The finding that unresponsiveness could be terminated by peritoneal cells and not spleen cells indicates that macrophages played a primary role in immune paralysis, possibly owing to their loss of capacity to transfer factors or information for induction of antibody synthesis.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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