Separation of allostimulatory and natural suppressor/stem cell functions of murine bone marrow--implications for bone marrow transplantation

Abstract

Natural suppressor (NS) activity is defined by the ability of a null cell population to inhibit antigenic and mitogenic activation of lymphoid cells. We had previously demonstrated that murine and human bone marrow was a rich source of NS activity and could be enriched in a population of large, low-density cells after counterflow centrifugal elutriation (CCE). In this report we confirm previous findings in the mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) that NS activity is an endogenous function of BM and is not present in peripheral immune tissues. Furthermore, suppression by BM NS cells in the MLR is not MHC restricted, which distinguishes NS activity from veto activity also associated with BM. To enrich for NS activity, BM cells were separated into 3 fractions according to size and density by CCE. Fraction (F) 1 contained small, high-density cells; F2 contained cells of intermediate size and density; and F3 comprised large, low-density cells. Addition of CCE-enriched fractions to the MLR revealed potent NS activity associated with F3, consistent with our previous findings in the Ab response. CCE-enriched fractions of BM cells were also used as stimulators in an MLR to determine which fraction, if any, could support alloantigen-induced proliferation. The use of unfractionated C57Bl/6 (H-2b) BM cells as stimulators for BALB/c (H-2d) splenic responders resulted in little detectable proliferation as compared with that induced by C57Bl/6 splenic stimulators. However, when elutriated fractions were used as stimulators, F1 BM cells induced a significant proliferative response, albeit to a lesser magnitude than spleen cells. In order to determine which fraction contained hematopoietic progenitors, CCE-separated cells were assayed for granulocyte/macrophage colony formation (CFU-GM). F3 BM was enriched five-fold for CFU-GM progenitors as compared with unfractionated BM, while progenitors were virtually absent in F1 and F2 BM. The results suggest that CCE may represent an effective way of removing potential alloantigen-presenting cells (F1) from BM, while retaining hematopoietic progenitors and NS activity (F3). The implications of the findings as they relate to allogeneic BM transplantation are discussed.