EFFECT OF IL-7 OR IL-4 ON RECONSTITUTION OF DONOR LYMPHOID-CELLS IN CONGENIC MURINE BONE-MARROW TRANSPLANTATION

IL-7 and IL-4 are known to influence the growth of cells of the lymphoid lineage. In this study, we investigated the effects of in vivo administration of IL-7 or IL-4 in mice subjected to congenic BM transplant. C57BL/6 Ly5.1(+) mice were subjected to TBI, followed by transfer of B and T cell-depleted BM from C57BL/6Ly5.2(+) donor mice. Recipient mice were implanted with 14-day miniosmotic pumps that delivered IL-7, IL-4 or PBS and were examined for reconstitution of lymphoid cells using flow cytometry on different days. We observed no significant difference in the number of splenocytes, thymocytes and PBLs between recipient mice administered with cytokines or normal control mice. However, we observed that IL-4 infusion resulted in appearance of increased numbers of donor CD23(+)B220(+) cells and also donor cells expressing Fc receptors for IgM (Fc mu R) and B220. Since CD23 is present only on mature B cells, our data demonstrate that following BMT, IL-4 treatment results in the development of more mature B cells compared to control mice. Additionally, we observed that IL-7 infusion resulted in significantly decreased expression of donor sIgM(+)B220(+) cells. However, the effects of IL-7 or IL-4 were observed when the cytokines were actively administered and rapidly abated upon cessation of cytokine therapy.