Abstract

Systemic lupus erythematosus is an autoimmune disease caused primarily by autoantibodies (including IgG anti-DNA) and immune complexes that cause tissue damage. After tolerization with an artificial peptide (pConsensus, pCons) based on murine anti-DNA IgG sequences containing MHC class I and class II T cell determinants, lupus-prone (NZB x NZW)F(1) female (BWF(1)) mice develop regulatory CD4+CD25+ T cells and inhibitory CD8+ T cells, both of which suppress anti-DNA Ig production and immune glomerulonephritis. In the present work, we show that splenocytes from BWF(1) mice treated with pCons had significant expansion of primarily CD8+ T cells. CD4+ T cells and B cells were each directly suppressed by CD8+ T cells from tolerized mice in a contact-independent manner. Both pCons-induced CD8+CD28+ and CD8+CD28- T cells suppressed production of anti-DNA in vitro. Silencing with small interfering RNA of Foxp3 abrogated the suppression mediated by both CD8+ T cell subsets. Additionally, CD8+ T cells from tolerized mice were weakly cytotoxic against syngeneic B cells from old anti-DNA-producing mice, but not from young mice. Importantly, pCons treatment had dual effects on CD8+ suppressor T cells from tolerized mice, increasing the intracellular expression of Foxp3 while decreasing the surface expression of PD1 molecules. Blocking PD1/PDL1 interactions in the CD8+ T cells from tolerized mice reduced their expression of Foxp3 and their ability to suppress CD4+CD25- proliferation. In contrast, blocking PD1/PDL1 in naive T cells increased Foxp3 expression. Our data suggest that tolerization with pCons activates different subsets of inhibitory/cytotoxic CD8+ T cells whose targets are both CD4+CD25- effector T cells and B cells.