Autoimmune cell-mediated tubulointerstitial nephritis induced in lewis rats by renal antigens

Abstract Lewis rats were injected with homogenates of renal or liver tissue or saline in complete Freund's adjuvant, plus pertussis vaccine, and were sacrificed at intervals ranging from 4 to 56 days. No renal lesions were observed in liver-or saline-injected animals. However, in rats injected with kidney preparations, severe tubulointerstitial nephritis was observed at 10–14 days; the lesions were characterized by irregular mononuclear cell infiltrates and tubular cell damage. At later intervals, milder more focal lesions were found. By immunofluorescence no tubulointerstitial deposits of immunoglobulin or C3 were detected. Transfer of lymph node, spleen, or peritoneal exudate cells from kidney-injected donors to normal Lewis rats resulted in focal interstitial infiltrates and tubular cell damage at 24 to 48 hr. Transfer of serum from kidney-injected donors or cells or serum from liver- or saline-injected donors produced no renal lesions. The migration of peritoneal macrophages from kidney-injected animals was inhibited by kidney, but not liver or spleen antigens. MIF activity was found in culture supernatants when lymph node or spleen cells from kidney-injected animals were cultured with kidney, but not with liver antigen preparations. The findings are interpreted as indicating that the tubulointerstitial lesions resulted from cell-mediated reactivity against kidney-specific antigens.