The relationship between induced and spontaneous autoantibodies in MRL mice: the role of Ly-1 B cells?

Abstract

The murine response to bromelain-treated mouse red blood cells (BrMRBC) is derived from Ly-1 B cells. It has been proposed that this B-cell subset produces a variety of other autoantibodies and is elevated in autoimmune mouse strains. We have studied the ability of MRL lpr/lpr and the non-autoimmune congenic MRL +/+ mice to make autoantibodies to BrMRBC and immunoglobulin (rheumatoid factors, RF). Following lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation we found the numbers of autologous plaque-forming cells (PFC) to be low in both lpr and MRL +/+ mice, suggesting low Ly-1 B-cell numbers. This observation is consistent with the view that Ly-1 B cells in the mouse may not give rise to pathologically relevant RF.