ABSTRACT
As described by J. Holoshitz, functional lines and clones of autoimmune T-lymphocytes have provided a new means for investigating the pathogenesis of experimental autoimmune diseases, i.e., experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), adjuvant arthritis (AA), experimental autoimmune thyroiditis, experimental autoimmune neuritis, experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis, and autoimmune diabetes in BB rats. The initial experiments using T-lymphocyte lines as vaccines involved EAE. AA has been a useful model to study resistance to disease because its manifestation as a chronic arthritis has allowed us to investigate therapy as well as prevention. The chapter discusses the possibility of using similar techniques to treat clinical autoimmune disease. Investigation of the mechanism of resistance induced by T-lymphocyte vaccination suggests that the cells act as suppressor-inducers, that is, the T lymphocyte vaccine triggers the development in recipient of other cells that suppress endogenous autoimmune reaction. T-lymphocyte vaccination summarized here has produced suppression that is specific to the autoimmune process itself in experimentally induced model diseases.
