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Sirolimus (rapamycin), a new immunosuppressive drug, inhibits proliferation of a wide spectrum of T and B cells. The immunosuppressive mechanism of sirolimus is still unclear. We recently isolated a membrane associated protein with an apparent molecular weight of 210 kDa, p210, from cultured Molt 4 cells and BJAB cells and from normal human T cells using an affinity matrix method. The p210 binds to sirolimus:FKBP12 complex, but only at background levels to FKBP12 alone, to FK506:FKBP12 complex, or sirolimus-biotin alone. Among the sirolimus analogs tested, the binding ability of p210 to drug:FKBP12 complexes correlates with the immunosuppressive activity of the drugs, suggesting that p210 is the sirolimus effector protein.

A high proportion of T cell clones derived from bulk cultures selected to M1s a,d determinants were found to have joint specificity for allo-H-2 determinants, and vice versa. Significantly, the patterns of H-2 alloreactivity shown by clones selected to M1sa,b determinants appeared to be random. The possible implications of these findings are discussed.

Negative and positive selection procedures were used to establish whether the strong proliferative response of T cells to M1sa determinants is H-2 restricted. After negative selection of H-2 determinants in vivo, it was shown that T cells give high primary mixed lymphocyte reactions in vitro to M1sa determinants presented on H-2-incompatible stimulator cells. Other studies demonstrated that (a) negative selection of T cells to M1sa determinants on H-2-incompatible cells removed T cells with specificity for M1sa-bearing H-2-compatible cells, and (b) T cells primed in vitro or in vivo to M1sa determinants on H-2-compatible cells gave high secondary responses to M1sa determinants presented either on H-2-compatible or H-2-incompatible stimulator cells. From these data we conclude that T cells recognize M1sa determinants per se rather than an association of M1sa plus self or allo-H-2 determinants.

To examine the relationship of T cell specificity for Mls vs H-2 determinants, BALB/c (H-2d,Mlsb)(d,b) T cells were stimulated repeatedly in vitro with H-2-compatible, Mls-incompatible DBA/2(d,a) stimulators. This line of T cells gave strong mixed-lymphocyte reactions to the priming Mlsa determinants but, in addition, gave appreciable responses to various foreign H-2 determinants. When this T cell line was subsequently stimulated over a period of 2 mo with Mlsa-negative cells of a particular foreign H-2 haplotype, e.g., H-2k, the cells gave high responses to H-2k determinants but only very low responses to third-party H-2 determinants. Significantly, the cells retained high reactivity for Mlsa determinants. In other experiments, BALB/c T cells positively selected to Mlsa,d-negative H-2-incompatible stimulator cells retained high reactivity for Mlsa determinants. The implications of these findings are discussed.