Anergy in Peripheral Memory Cd4+ T Cells Induced by Low Avidity Engagement of T Cell Receptor

Induction of tolerance in self-reactive memory T cells is an important process in the prevention of autoimmune responses against peripheral self-antigens in autoimmune diseases. Although naive T cells can readily be tolerized, memory T cells are less susceptible to tolerance induction. Recently, we demonstrated that low avidity engagement of T cell receptor (TCR) by low densities of agonist peptides induced anergy in T cell clones. Since memory T cells are more responsive to lower antigenic stimulation, we hypothesized that a low avidity TCR engagement may induce tolerance in memory T cells. We have explored two antigenic systems in two transgenic mouse models, and have tracked specific T cells that are primed and show memory phenotype. We demonstrate that memory CD4+ T cells can be rendered anergic by presentation of low densities of agonist peptide–major histocompatibility complex complexes in vivo. We rule out other commonly accepted mechanisms for induction of T cell tolerance in vivo, such as deletion, ignorance, or immunosuppression. Anergy is the most likely mechanism because addition of interleukin 2–reversed anergy in specific T cells. Moreover, cytotoxic T lymphocyte anti