Diseases caused by reactions of T lymphocytes to in com pat i ble structures of the major h istocom pa t i b i I i t y complex 1. Autoimmune hemolytic anemia"The capacities of various lymphoid cells from C57BL/10 donors t o induce antibodies against red blood cells (RBC) in (C57BL/10 x DBA/2)Fl recipients were compared: cortisone-resistant thymocytes were more potent inducers than spleen cells, and bone marrow cells were ineffective. This established a need for parental T lymphocytes in the induction of Coombs-positive hemolytic anemia by the graft-versus-host reaction (GVHR). Since some of the anti-RBC antibodies carried the Igc allotype specific for the F1 host, they were autoantibodies.When antibodies were eluted from the erythrocytes of F1 mice undergoing the GVHR (GVH F l mice) and subsequently tested against normal RBC in the indirect Coombs' test, the Igc allotype was demonstrable even on those antibodies found t o react with RBC of the donor strain (C57BL/10). In addition, reactions with normal intact RBC of other strains and species were noted. Anti-RBC antibodies belonged t o all Ig classes and subclasses that were tested (IgG1, k G z a , k G z b , IgA, and IgM).By means of histocompatibility typing it was shown that the overwhelming majority of lymphoid cells from GVH animals were host cells; most of these host cells were Thy-1.2-negative. In several GVH F1 mice Coombs-positive erythrocytes were demonstrated for periods of more than 5 months; Igc-positive anti-RBC antibodies were detected for periods up t o 3 months. When an additional injection of parental T cells was administered t o GVH F1 mice, which had become Coombs-negative in the course of the GVHR, new anti-RBC antibodies appeared. In contrast t o F 1 B cells, T cells of the F1 host were not needed for autoimmunization as shown by the induction of anti-RBC autoantibodies in F1 recipients that were depleted of autologous T cells prior t o the administration of parental T cells.When (C57BL/10 x DBA/2)Fl mice were back-crossed into strain C57BL/10 and the offsprings injected with C57BL/10 (H-2bb) lymphoid cells, most of the H-2 heterozygous (H-2bd) back-crosses developed Coombs'-positive hemolytic anemia, whereas none of the H-2 homozygous (H-2bb) ones did.The most likely explanation of these results is that anti-RBC autoantibodies were induced by a persistent reaction of parental T helper cells to incompatible H-2 structures on normally present autoreactive F l B cells. The hypothesis is proposed that reactions of T lymphocytes against virally or chemically altered structures of the major histocompatibility complex may lead t o autoimmunization also in nonchimeric individuals.