Interferon-gamma suppresses T-cell proliferation to mitogen via the nitric oxide pathway during experimental acute graft-versus-host disease

The development of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is associated with long-lasting and profound deficits in immune function that lead to increased morbidity and mortality after bone marrow transplantation (BMT). We investigated a mechanism of T-cell immunodeficiency in response to mitogen or alloantigen in an experimental model of acute GVHD by analyzing the roles of two immunosuppressive moieties: interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) and nitric oxide (NO). Splenocytes from mice with GVHD did not proliferate either to the T-cell mitogen, concanavalin A (Con A), or to host alloantigens, but only mitogen-activated cultures produced increased levels of NO. The abrogation of NO synthesis with LG-mono-methyl-arginine (NMMA) restored mitogen-induced proliferation but not the response to host antigens. The mechanism of impared proliferation to mitogen was dependent on IFN-gamma because blockade of this cytokine in culture inhibited NO production and restored proliferation to Con A to levels similar to those in transplanted control mice without GVHD. NMMA did not substantially reduce IFN-gamma levels, demonstrating that NO acted distally to IFN-gamma in the pathway of immunosuppression in response to mitogen. Furthermore, the prevention of IFN-gamma production in vivo after allogeneic BMT, by transplantation of polarized type 2 donor T cells (secreting interleukin-4 but not IFN-gamma), also prevented NO production and restored splenocyte responses to mitogen. Our data demonstrate the existence of NO-dependent and NO-independent pathways involved in suppression of T-cell proliferation during acute GVHD. Excess NO synthesis appears to be one mechanism by which IFN-gamma induces immunodeficiency after allogeneic BMT.