Suppression of B-cell development as a result of selective expansion of donor T cells during the minor H antigen graft-versus-host reaction

A murine model of bone marrow (BM) transplantation in which donor (B10.D2) and recipient (BALB/c) mice were major histocompatibility complex (MHC) (H-2^d) and Mls-1 identical, but incompatible at multiple non-MHC minor histocompatibility (H) antigens, and at Mis-2,3 was used to examine regeneration of B-cell development during the minor H antigen graft-versus-host reaction (GVHR). Mice that received T-cell-depleted allogeneic BM regained significant pre-B cells (slg^- 14.8⁺) in their BM. Mice undergoing GVHR after transplantation with allogeneic BM + T cells had less than 2% pre-B cells in their BM at day 7 and only 12% to 14% pre-B cells at days 21 and 28 compared with greater than 20% pre-B cells in the allogeneic controls. After partial recovery, the pre-B cells in the BM of GVH mice again decreased to less than 3% by day 42. This normal pattern of pre-B cell development in mice undergoing GVHR was associated with a reduced response to interleukin-7 (IL-7) in vitro. The delay in B-lineage cell reconstitution in mice with GVHR correlated with the expansion of donor Vβ3⁺ T cells in both the spleen and BM. BM T cells from mice with GVHR as well as isolated Vβ3⁺ T cells inhibited IL-7 colony-forming units from normal BM in coculture assays. This inhibition could be reversed with antiinterferon γ (IFNγ) antibody. These data suggest that the delay in appearance and the reduction in proportion and number of pre-B cells observed early during the GVH reaction in this model is caused, in part, by the inhibitory actions of IFNγ derived from donor Vβ3⁺ T cells on B-lineage cell development.