Autoantibody-secreting plaque forming cells in spleen and thymus of NZB and normal mice.

Abstract

NZB mice develop several manifestations of autoimmune disease and, in particular, Coombs positive haemolytic anaemia1 which can be accompanied by hepatosplenomegaly, glomerulonephritis and the appearance of antinuclear antibodies. The anaemia is associated with erythrocyte autoantibodies detected by direct and indirect antiglobulin tests and which from 3–4 months of age appear in an increasing proportion of mice until virtually all are involved by 9–12 months. Although there has been a good deal of work on the various disorders in NZB mice, the aetiology of the disease remains obscure2. The thymus has been suggested as the site of origin of the disease3 and recently a viral cause for the autoimmune state was proposed4, but this evidence for these hypotheses has been equivocal5–7. Although the spleen has been implicated as the chief site of autoantibody production8, no direct demonstration of the autoantibody secreting cells in NZB mice has been reported.