Bystander suppression of occupational hapten sensitization in rats made tolerant to ovalbumin.

Feeding a soluble antigen to an animal is known to cause a state of unresponsiveness against this antigen. If this antigen is given together with another antigen during the sensitization procedure, impairment of the response to the new antigen can also be seen, a phenomenon referred to as bystander suppression. The induction of tolerance against ovalbumin (OvA) and the effect of bystander suppression on the response to the hapten trimellitic anhydride (TMA), a cause of occupational asthma, were studied in Brown-Norway rats. Rats were fed either OvA-containing pellets or standard diet for 16 days before sensitization with the mixture of TMA and OvA. The animals were followed for 6 weeks after sensitization. Animals made tolerant to OvA showed a significantly suppressed delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction against both OvA and TMA compared with the nontolerized control group at 5 weeks after sensitization, implying bystander suppression. By contrast, immunoglobulin (Ig)E and IgG antibody levels were suppressed only against OvA, whereas anti-TMA antibody levels were not affected. Airway eosinophilia after a single aerosol challenge at 6 weeks after sensitization using TMA conjugated to rat serum albumin, correlated with IgE anti-TMA levels in the group made tolerant to OvA and was not affected by OvA ingestion. In conclusion, suppressive factors released in ovalbumin-tolerant rats when they are challenged with ovalbumin, can suppress the response to trimellitic anhydride and this suppression is more pronounced for T-helper1-type responses.