Publications

This study was designed to evaluate the role of endogenous enkephalinase in regulating bronchoconstrictor responses in guinea pigs. We evaluated the effects of phosphoramidon, an enkephalinase inhibitor, on the increases in lung resistance (RL) caused by exogenous substance P and inhaled capsaicin (an agent thought to provoke bronchoconstriction in guinea pigs by stimulating the release of tachykinins from afferent nerve endings). In 6 of 6 animals, phosphoramidon potentiated the substance P-induced increase in RL (RL increased 380 +/- 100% [mean +/- SEM] before phosphoramidon and 1,300 +/- 400% afterward, p less than 0.025). In 4 of 4 animals, the repeated administration of a single dose of substance P after saline did not result in potentiation of the increase in RL caused by substance P. Similarly, in 6 animals exposed to inhaled capsaicin, phosphoramidon significantly increased capsaicin responsiveness when compared to 6 capsaicin-exposed animals not treated with phosphoramidon. Phosphoramidon-induced augmentation of the airway responsiveness to substance P and to capsaicin was not simply the result of a nonspecific increase in airway smooth muscle responsiveness because phosphoramidon failed to potentiate the bronchoconstrictor response to inhaled acetylcholine. These results suggest the enkephalinase plays an important role in modulating in vivo bronchoconstrictor responses to substance P in guinea pigs. Therefore, alterations in enkephalinase activity could contribute to in vivo alterations in bronchoconstrictor responsiveness.

Treatment of mice with mAb to L3T4 profoundly depletes T helper cells. This treatment inhibits humoral and cellular immunity, retards autoimmunity, and permits the induction of Ag-specific tolerance. Treatment of BALB/c mice with F(ab')2 anti-L3T4 inhibits humoral immunity without depleting L3T4+ cells, which is evidence that mAb to L3T4 may inhibit T helper cell function in vivo. In this report, we demonstrate that F(ab')2 anti-L3T4 also permits the induction of immune tolerance in a manner that is independent of T cell depletion. C57BL/6 mice were treated with 1 mg of F(ab')2 anti-L3T4 every other day for 18 days and from the onset were challenged weekly with the immunogen 2C7, a rat mAb to chicken ovalbumin. These mice failed to respond to 2C7 not only during the treatment period but also for at least 5 mo thereafter. This immune tolerance was Ag-specific; the mice rapidly produced antibodies to subsequent challenge with another Ag, human gamma-globulin. Unlike intact anti-L3T4, which immediately depletes L3T4+ cells by greater than 90%, F(ab')2 anti-L3T4 did not initially deplete cells and caused only a partial reduction by the end of the 18-day treatment. This partial reduction of L3T4+ cells did not contribute to the induction of tolerance because mice that were first challenged with 2C7 3 days after stopping the F(ab')2 anti-L3T4 treatment, when L3T4+ cells were lowest, had a normal Ir to 2C7. These findings demonstrate that mAb to L3T4 permits induction of Ag-specific immune tolerance by a mechanism independent of its ability to deplete L3T4+ cells. They also show that F(ab')2 anti-L3T4 treatment does not impair humoral immunity when immunization is initiated after treatment is stopped. Because L3T4 is homologous to CD4 in humans, our findings suggest that F(ab')2 anti-CD4 may offer significant advantages over the use of intact anti-CD4 as an immunosuppressive agent in humans.